The Power of Badgers
by Lady Sabine of Macayhill
Summary: Harry Potter does not get raised by the Dursleys, but instead grows up aware of the wizarding world and how he's seen as special. Due to this upbringing, he and his friends decide that they want to be Sorted into Hufflepuff, which changes how he will fulfill his destiny. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I had a dream in which Harry Potter was being raised by Sirius, Remus, and a female friend of theirs in the Order that was in Hufflepuff, and due to this, he and his friends ended up in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor. This plot bunny refused to leave me, so I decided to write a fic with this premise.

Disclaimer for the whole fic: I do not own Harry Potter. It is the property of J. K. Rowling, fantastic writer and current wielder of Chekhov's Gun (according to the TVTropes pantheon, under the Narrative section), and I am merely playing in her universe.

Arianrhod Llewellyn, Ria for short, was taking her usual morning walk when she happened to pass by the local church. A basket was lying on the steps, and so, assuming that someone had dropped off a donation, she went over with the intent of bringing it to the vicar. However, when she looked down at the basket, she let out a gasp. A sleeping baby, with lightning bolt scar on his forehead, was lying in it, with a torn piece of paper pinned to the somewhat stained blanket he was wrapped in.

"What in Merlin's name is Harry Potter doing here?" Ria whispered, as she picked up the child. A quick glance at the paper proved that her identification was right, for scrawled on it was the name and his date of birth, July 30th, 1980. She thought over to what had happened within the past couple of weeks and recalled hearing that Harry Potter was supposedly sent to relatives. Since James Potter had no living relatives, at least not any within two or three degrees of cousinship, the boy would have had to go to his mother's family. Lily Potter did have a sister, who was Muggle, and presumably Harry would have gone to her. From the looks of things, however, the aunt didn't want to keep him.

"I didn't know Lily well, since I was a few years ahead of her in school, but I did overhear her mention to a friend once that her sister hated magic due to jealousy or something like that," Ria muttered. She looked around to make sure that nobody was watching, and then Apparated back to her family home.

The shock of Apparating woke up Harry, but Ria was able to calm him down and transfigured a towel and one of her potion stirrers into a teddy bear and a rattle to keep him occupied for the time being. She then strengthened and added to the wards on her home, so that Harry could be safe, and then went into the kitchen to prepare some food for the both of them.

After breakfast, Ria gave Harry a bath, dressed him in clothes and a nappy she transfigured from one of her old robes, and then took him to visit the Weasleys, who lived two towns over. Molly and Arthur Weasley had been on good terms with her back in school, though they had been a few years above her, and Ria had dated Molly's brother Gideon. In fact, they had been engaged, but Death Eaters had killed Gideon and his twin Fabian three weeks later, during the war.

"Ria! What a pleasant surprise," said Molly warmly when she opened the door. Her gaze then fell on Harry. "When did you suddenly gain a child? Come in and you can tell me everything."

The three went into the kitchen, where Molly had been feeding her two youngest, Ron, who was five months older than Harry, and Ginny, who was three months old. She resumed breastfeeding Ginny, while Ria explained about finding Harry Potter on the steps of a church and presumably abandoned by his maternal aunt. "So I thought that if Harry is unwanted by his aunt, then I'd take him in," Ria concluded. "I would like your advice, since you've got experience, what with currently raising seven kids and all, and all I know is what I remember from when I used to baby-sit for my younger cousins."

Once Molly had gotten over her shock that Harry had been abandoned, she was quite willing to offer advice. She made up a list of necessary items that a toddler would require, and offered to keep an eye on Harry while Ria went out and bought everything. "It'll be no trouble, Ria. Harry can play with Ron. Charlie and Bill are keeping an eye on Percy, Fred, and George at the moment."

To avoid inciting comment in her own town, Ria decided to go to London and buy everything there. When she returned, she set up her old bedroom as a nursery, and then went back to the Weasleys. "Thank you for looking after Harry for me, Molly. But I am going to need to set up some sort of baby-sitting arrangement while I'm at work. I may have this week off, but next week I have to be back at St. Mungo's. I could transfer to part-time, or change shifts, but I can't quit entirely."

"Ria, I can look after Harry while you're at work," Molly offered. "It's no trouble at all. Other than his babbling for his parents, he was fine, and had fun stacking blocks with Ron."

"If you're sure," Ria said doubtfully. "I don't want to burden you unnecessarily."

Molly insisted it was fine, and so in the end it was arranged that Harry would stay at the Weasleys during the day on weekdays, with a fee of twenty Galleons to be paid weekly. She did try to protest that she didn't need to be paid, but Ria refused to let Molly provide baby-sitting services for free.

When Arthur returned home from work late that afternoon, Ria and Molly explained things to him. He was also shocked that Harry would be abandoned like that, and offered his services as a surrogate father, just as the two women were acting as surrogate mothers.

The next day, Ria looked up the Potters' friends. She knew neither Sirius Black nor Peter Pettigrew would be available, for the former was in prison for killing the latter and thirteen Muggles, and also apparently had betrayed the Potters to Voldemort. However, when she went to see Severus Snape, whom she recalled was friends with Lily, it turned out that the two had gotten into a huge fight at the end of fifth year and their friendship had ended. While Severus still cared for Lily, he was very upset that she had married James (who had made a habit of bullying him back in school).

"I can see why you'd be upset that Lily married James," said Ria. "But I don't understand how your friendship ended. From what I saw back in school, the two of you got along very well, even if the two of you were in opposing houses, and you were a bit, well, moody most of the time."

After a moment of silence, Severus snapped, "I called her the 'm' word, all right? Potter and that traitor Black were bullying me as usual, and in a fit of anger and embarrassment, I snapped at Lily when she came to my rescue. I tried apologizing to her after, but she wouldn't listen."

Ria blinked, and had a feeling that there was more to it. Perhaps being in Slytherin had managed to change Severus enough that Lily didn't like the kind of person he was becoming, and calling her a 'mudblood' had been the last straw. Otherwise she would have forgiven him for his mistake.

"I'm sorry that it happened to you, Professor Snape," said Ria sympathetically, using his professional title, as he was the Potions Master at Hogwarts. "I know what it is like to lose someone you care for. I was engaged, but my fiancé was killed during the war, along with his twin, before we could marry."

"I'm sorry for your loss," said Severus curtly, with an undertone of understanding. "Anyway, why did you wish to see me, Miss Llewellyn? You only said that you were looking up the Potters' friends."

"Can I trust you not to tell anyone else about this?" Ria asked. "Especially Professor Dumbledore."

"I vow on my magic and my – regard – for Lily Evans, to not tell anyone else whatever you tell me, unless you say otherwise," promised Severus. "Will that suffice, Miss Llewellyn?"

"Yes, and please call me Ria. Now, since you were friends with Lily, is it true that her Muggle sister disliked magic or was jealous of not being a witch or something like that?"

Severus nodded. "Petunia was always spying on Lily and me, and after Lily got her letter, actually wrote to Professor Dumbledore asking for admittance as well. Obviously, as a Muggle she couldn't, and after that, Petunia declared that she hated magic and that witches and wizards were freaks."

"So that means that Petunia Evans would not want to take in her nephew then," Ria concluded.

Severus nodded again. "I believe she is a Dursley now, since Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall both told me that she is married and has a son around the same age as Lily's son. In any case, I did tell Professor Dumbledore that leaving her son with his aunt and uncle wasn't the best idea, but he assured me that they wouldn't harm their own flesh-and-blood, and Harry Potter would be protected."

"Obviously Professor Dumbledore was mistaken," said Ria sourly. "This is what you're to keep quiet, Professor Snape. When I was taking my morning walk yesterday, I saw a basket on the steps of the town church. Inside the basket was Harry Potter, with a paper having his name and birthday pinned to the blanket, and it was clear that he was being abandoned. I assumed that his relatives didn't want him, and gather that if they had kept him, they would have made his life miserable."

Severus looked shocked. "But Professor Dumbledore said he left a letter explaining everything, and Professor McGonagall and Hagrid confirmed it, as they were also there at the time! I suppose Petunia disregarded the letter, or perhaps her husband did, and insisted that they didn't want a 'freak' in their home. It stands to reason that Petunia would marry someone as small-minded as she is."

"I am going to raise Harry Potter, with the help of Molly and Arthur Weasley, who would have been my sister and brother-in-law if Gideon Prewett hadn't died. They have seven children and therefore know quite a bit about child-raising. However, I wanted to also have the Potters' friends involved in Harry's life. After all, Harry is the last link they have to the Potters. I understand that you and James did not get on in school, but would you, for Lily's sake, visit sometimes and tell Harry about his mother? I can't, since I was five years above you all in school, and was a Hufflepuff besides."

Severus considered it for a minute, then nodded. "For Lily's sake, I will do it. Don't expect me to tell the boy anything about his father, though, other than that we didn't get along and leaving it at that."

"That's fine," said Ria. "I just wanted you to tell Harry about his mother, since you were Lily's oldest friend. Now, I have to visit the Longbottoms and Remus Lupin. I understand that Remus is the only remaining close friend of James, after what happened with Black and Pettigrew, and Alice Longbottom was friends with Lily and Neville was born the day before Harry."

The Longbottoms were easy to track down, since they had gone out of hiding at the conclusion of the war. Alice and Frank were horrified to discover that Harry Potter had been abandoned by his relatives, promised to keep it secret that Ria was going to raise him, and offered their help in his upbringing. Since Molly did have several children of her own to raise, Alice volunteered to help out, as it would be good for Neville to be around other children his age. Ria then put Alice in touch with Molly, who accepted the help after a moment of hesitation, and the two made plans to meet tomorrow.

"Good, that's settled," said Ria. "Now, I have one more person to meet, unless the two of you know of anyone else that was friends with the Potters and can be trusted?"

Alice shook her head. "Everyone else they were friends with either died or turned out to be traitors. Well, they were friends with Hagrid and Professor McGonagall, if you want to include those that are in an older generation, and feel that they won't tell Professor Dumbledore. But I believe that's it, Ria."

"Thank you, Alice," Ria said with a smile. "I'll see you and Frank later. Good day to you both."

She had set down the street, with the intent of tracking down Remus Lupin, who hadn't responded to the letter she had sent yesterday, when she heard the cracks of Apparation. She paused, then took out her wand and silently made her way back to the Longbottom home. She had just reached the front door, which had been blasted open, when she heard screams. She instantly Summoned her Patronus and sent a message to her friend Amelia Bones, who was high-up in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, asking her to have Aurors sent to the Longbottom home immediately.

After that, Ria silently went inside, to find four people, one of them no more than nineteen or twenty, angrily questioning Frank and Alice about Voldemort's whereabouts and torturing the two when they protested that they didn't know. " _Stupefy_ ," Ria whispered, and the young man was stiffened and fell to the ground, Stunned. She did the same thing to the older man next to him, and that was when the third man and a woman turned around to see what was going on.

"How dare you interrupt what we were doing!" the woman shrieked angrily. " _Avada Kedavra_!"

Ria, who had been expecting a spell, dodged the Killing Curse and instead the jet of green light hit the end-table in the living room and blasted it into pieces. She retaliated with the Cutting Curse.

The woman managed to deflect this, but accidently caused the third man to be hit with it instead. He let out a howl of pain as the sleeve of his robe ripped and a slash appeared on his arm, causing blood to seep out. Grimly thinking that it was a good thing she was a Healer, as those who could put you together also knew how to take you apart, Ria cast a Bone-Shattering Curse. The woman dodged that as well, but in doing so tripped over one of the Stunned men and fell down.

" _Stupefy_!" Ria cast, taking advantage of the woman's distraction to Stun her. She then turned her attention to the remaining man, who had stopped the bleeding. That was when cracks of Apparation sounded and half a dozen Aurors appeared in the room. The quickly took down the remaining man, and commended Ria, who was now tending to Frank and Alice, for her quick thinking.

The woman was identified as Bellatrix Lestrange, nee Black, and two of the men were her husband, Rudolphus, and brother-in-law, Rabastan. The fourth person, however, was Barty Crouch, Jr., son of the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who hated Dark wizards. The Aurors were very shocked at this, since Mr. Crouch's son was the last person they'd think to be a Death Eater.

Frank and Alice fortunately had suffered very little damage from the Cruciatus Curse, as Ria had come to their rescue in time. If she hadn't visited, it was quite likely that Aurors wouldn't have come until it was too late, and the Longbottoms would either be dead or permanently brain damaged.

The Aurors took down the statements from the Longbottoms and Ria as to what had occurred, and then left with the four captured Death Eaters. "Thank you for coming to our rescue, Ria," Frank said once they were gone. "If you hadn't been there, I shudder to think would happen. Fortunately Neville was upstairs taking a nap, and we managed to cast a protective ward when the four burst in. That's why they were able to get us before we could do anything to them. We were busy protecting Neville."

"I thought that with Voldemort's defeat, we'd be safe," Alice said. "Professor Dumbledore assured us that we could come out of hiding, since it was now clear that Neville wasn't the child of the prophecy."

"Prophecy?" asked Ria. "What are you talking about, Alice?"

"During the interview for the new Divination teacher at Hogwarts, the candidate, Professor Trelawney, made a prophecy," Frank explained. "Professor Dumbledore, who was conducting the interview, heard it. He told us, and the Potters, that the prophecy said that a child born at the end of July, to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort, would be marked as the Dark Lord's equal and have the power to defeat him, or vice versa. That's why Voldemort went after the Potters and tried to kill Harry. He knew about the first part of the prophecy and wanted to prevent it from coming true."

"So I take it that the scar on Harry's forehead would be mark? Perhaps the Dark Lord had told those four Death Eaters something about the prophecy and that's why they thought you might have some knowledge of his whereabouts and targeted you. In any case, I suggest more wards on your home. I can help with that, as my parents were excellent Warders and taught me well. Mother was just a little disappointed that I chose to become a Healer rather than follow in their footsteps."

"Thank you, Ria," said Alice, and the three of them set up more wards on the Longbottom home.

After that, Ria bid them good-day again and left. After some thought, she decided to send a Patronus message, since her owl had gone unanswered. An hour later, she got one in return. " _Since you said that it concerns Harry, I will meet you, Ria_ ," Remus's voice sounded from the Patronus, which looked like a canine, but was too blurry to tell if it was a dog, or something else, like a fox or a wolf. " _I will be at the Leaky Cauldron at half-past four this afternoon_."

Ria stopped by the Weasleys to make sure Harry was still doing well, and then Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron, as she needed a rest from all the Apparating she had done that day. Remus arrived fifteen minutes later, and they went to a private room that Tom the barman had provided so they could talk in secret. "Thank you for meeting me, Remus," said Ria. As they had both been in the Order of the Phoenix, they were on friendly terms. "I haven't seen you since Lily's and James's funerals two weeks ago. I know you're upset and grieving, but that doesn't mean you should ignore my owl. I didn't go to pieces after Gideon's death, and instead got on with my life like he would have wanted."

"I'm sorry, Ria," apologized Remus. "I couldn't bring myself to answer your letter yesterday. It wasn't until I got your Patronus message stating you wanted to meet me regarding Harry that I recovered."

"You're forgiven. But please try to pull yourself together, all right? Lily and James wouldn't want you wallowing in grief over them, and Harry is going to need his 'Uncle Moony', which I presume is your nickname. When he's not babbling for his parents, he asks for you and 'Uncle Padfoot', in baby-talk, of course. Uncle Padfoot would be Sirius Black, I presume? Or was that Peter Pettigrew?"

"That was Sirius," Remus said, his face turning dark. "Peter's nickname was Wormtail."

"Interesting," said Ria. "Harry hasn't mentioned wanting Peter at all. The only people he's asked for besides his parents are you and Sirius. Anyway, I need to tell you what's going on with Harry, but you must promise not to tell anyone else about it, not even Professor Dumbledore. Some things I've heard today make me feel that he can be trusted to fight Voldemort, but he's got a deeper agenda."

Remus looked questioning at that, but promised to keep what Ria said secret. She then told him about Harry being abandoned by his relatives and her intent to raise him with the help of the Weasleys and having the Potters' friends be involved in his life. "But Professor Dumbledore assured me that Harry's relatives would take good care of him, and advised that I not cause any issues by visiting him until after he started Hogwarts! I didn't realize that Professor Dumbledore could misjudge the situation and that Lily's sister wouldn't want Harry, no matter how much she disliked magic."

"Well, it obviously happened, and I have a feeling that if Professor Dumbledore knew what happened, he would still want Harry at his relatives due to whatever protection was set up. Short of putting them under the Imperius Curse or modifying their memories so that they like magic, there is no way that they would take in Harry, except begrudgingly, or treat him like their own. Threats would only upset them, and persuasion or bribes wouldn't change their feelings towards him."

"You're absolutely right, Ria," said Remus. "What Lily and James told me about the Dursleys wasn't good, and they didn't attend the wedding. Lily was quite upset over that, and she was upset before that too, when Petunia flat out told her that she couldn't be a bridesmaid, because Petunia didn't want to be upstaged at her own wedding. Er, are you sure you want me to be around Harry?"

"Of course," Ria exclaimed. "He's the last link you have to your friends. Or does this have to do with the fact that you're, shall we say indisposed, around the full moon and think I might be prejudiced?"

Remus gave a start of surprise and she said with a smile, "We were in the Order, remember? Your 'illness' was known to most of us, and we all had no problem with it. Obviously you can't visit during the full moon, but any other time you are free to come by and tell Harry all about his parents. In fact, when he's older, I'd like to engage you as a tutor, if you don't have any other jobs lined up."

"That's not going to be likely," said Remus bitterly. "The Order may not have prejudices against werewolves, but the same can't be said of the rest of the British wizarding world. I tried to find employment after graduation, but despite my excellent grades, once what I was came out, nobody would hire me. So I devoted my time to the Order, with James and Lily supporting me."

"I'm sorry, Remus," said Ria. "In the meantime, I would like it if you could help in Harry's upbringing, and then become his tutor once he's old enough for schooling. Molly, Alice, and I will be his surrogate mothers, and Arthur, Frank, and you will be his surrogate fathers. Professor Snape will be busy teaching, but he will visit when he can and act as a surrogate uncle. Now, what can you tell me about Sirius? From what I saw in the Order, and the two years our school time overlapped, I find it hard to believe that he would betray the Potters and kill Peter. There has to be something deeper to it."

Remus shrugged. "I found it hard to believe too, but all the evidence says he did. Also, there was an incident at Hogwarts that disturbed me. He told Severus Snape how to get into the passageway under the Whomping Willow, which was what I used to get to the Shrieking Shack, where I would transform. If James hadn't found out and rescued Snape, I would have killed him, or worse, bitten him."

Ria winced. "No wonder he hates you all. Not only did James and Sirius bully him, but Sirius also set him up to be hurt by you. I'm sorry about that. Did Sirius ever explain why he did that?"

"Snape wasn't completely blameless," Remus said. "While we were wrong to bully him, or in my case ignore what was going on and not make more of an effort to stop it, he sometimes instigated things. He was also quite determined to find out my secret, and I think his fellow Slytherins were something of a bad influence. Anyway, he was making a nuisance of himself, and finally Sirius got fed up and told him how the get to the passageway. I don't think he really wanted to get Snape killed, and was only thinking it was just a prank, but it did take James and me a couple of months to forgive Sirius."

"I see. Well, would you object to packing up your things and moving to my home by the end of the week, Remus? I'll make arrangements for the full moon, and you can help Molly and Alice with caring for Harry while I'm on shift at St. Mungo's. Your pay for baby-sitting him will be room and board and forty Galleons a month. You'll get a larger salary once you become his tutor."

"I don't mind moving," Remus said, once he'd gotten over his surprise over having a proper job with an actual salary. "Thank you, Ria, for what you're doing."

"It's nothing," said Ria modestly. "I need to get back to Harry, and I'm sure you have things you need to do, so we'll talk later. You can come by tomorrow and baby-sit Harry while I speak with my friend Amelia Bones and file the adoption paperwork so he can't be sent back to his relatives."

"I'll do that then," said Remus. Ria gave him the address of her home so he could Floo over tomorrow, paid for the tea they had drunk during their conversation, and then the two left the Leaky Cauldron.

Ria returned to the Weasleys, where she helped Molly prepare dinner for the family. After eating, she returned to her home with Harry, where she got him to fall asleep and placed him in his crib.

The next morning, Remus came by as promised. Harry perked up to see his 'Uncle Moony', and Remus in turn was very happy to see him. After Ria gave a quick tour of her home, Remus and Harry settled down to play with some blocks, and she left for the Ministry of Magic.

"Barty Crouch is in a bad mood today," Amelia Bones said once she greeted Ria and led her inside the office. "Not surprising, since his son was caught attacking the Longbottoms. However did you manage to find out what was going on and save them in time, Ria?"

"I had gone to visit them, and the Death Eaters showed up a couple of minutes after I'd left, Amelia. I had only gone a little ways down the street when I heard the sound of Apparation."

Amelia nodded, and raised a brow when Ria cast a spell to prevent eavesdropping. "I take it that you have something to tell me that you don't want anyone overhearing?"

"I do." Ria swore her friend to secrecy, and then proceeded to explain what was going on with Harry Potter, concluding with, "Since I'm taking him in, I wanted to file adoption paperwork. You're the only one in the Ministry I can trust to help me, other than Arthur Weasley, and he's not suited in this case."

"Of course. Let me get the appropriate paperwork." Amelia rose and procured a copy of the paperwork she had filled out when taking custody of her niece, Susan, which she handed to Ria.

After ten minutes, Ria had completed the paperwork, and Amelia signed it as a witness. "I'll file this for you, Ria, and make sure that word doesn't get out that you are now the guardian of Harry Potter."

"Thank you, Amelia," said Ria with a smile. "Your niece Susan is about Harry's age, correct? Perhaps we could arrange for the two to have some playdates. It would be nice for him to make friends with other children besides Ron and Neville, since I don't want him to have just male friends."

"That is an excellent idea," Amelia said. "It would be good for Susan to make some friends before starting Hogwarts. You said Molly, Alice, and Remus will be acting as caretakers while you're at work? Do you think Susan could join the group? Currently one of the family house elves is taking care of her while I'm at work, and that's not a real substitute for a parent's care."

"I'm fine with Susan being part of the nursery group, and I'll talk with Molly and Alice about it. I'm sure they won't mind. I'll owl you once the arrangements are set up, Amelia."

Amelia thanked Ria, and then took down the anti-eavesdropping spell. The two briefly discussed the upcoming trial, where the Longbottoms and Ria were to testify. After that, Ria left, and once home, prepared lunch, fed Harry and put him down for a nap, and helped Remus move into the guest room. Once he was moved in, Ria met with Molly and Alice, who approved of having Susan Bones be part of the nursery group, since they felt it would be good for their children to be around others their age.

The three discussed arrangements, and then sent a letter containing all the details to Amelia.


	2. Chapter 2

"Remus, would you mind giving Percy his reading lesson?" Molly asked. It was the second day since the nursery group had started, and things were going quite well. The three adults took turns caring for Ron, Neville, Susan, and Harry, who were grouped together, while Ginny (when she was awake), fell mostly under her mother's purview. Fred and George, who were three, played nearby, with one of the adults keeping an eye on them, or Bill (the oldest at ten) would do so when he wasn't busy with his lessons or playing with Charlie (who was eight). Percy, who was five, liked to keep to himself and enjoyed his lessons, which consisted of learning how to read and write and simple arithmetic.

"I'll be happy to," said Remus, and after picking out a book, called Percy over.

"Mr. Remus, see my new pet," Percy said when he came over. He held out a cage holding a grey rat. "I found him in the garden last night, and Mum and Dad said I could keep him. His name is Scabbers."

"That's nice, Percy," said Remus, then blinked when he realized that the rat appeared to be familiar. He took a closer look at the cage, and saw that not only was the rat pretty much identical to Peter Pettigrew's Animagus form, but he was also missing a toe on one of the front paws. Considering that all that had been found of Peter after he'd been blasted to death was a finger, this was suspicious.

"Percy, could you wait a couple of minutes before we start the reading lesson?" Remus asked. "I want to look closer at Scabbers and talk to your mother about him."

"Okay," said Percy, and he handed the cage to Remus. Scabbers started squeaking in fright and began scurrying around the cage. "Is Scabbers okay? Why is he acting like that?"

"I think he's just nervous around a new person," Remus replied. "Here, read the book to yourself while I go talk with your mother, Percy. It shouldn't take too long."

Once in the kitchen, Remus Stunned the rat, then asked Bill and Charlie to keep an eye on the seven youngest while he spoke with Molly and Alice. He hastily explained about how Sirius, James, and Peter had become Animagi, and had decided to not get registered until after the end of the war so that they could use their forms to spy on the enemy. "Anyway, Peter's form was a rat, and when Percy showed me Scabbers, I saw that he looked exactly like Peter when he was a rat, except for the missing toe. However, all that was found of Peter was a finger, so that would explain the missing toe."

"Then that would mean that we could be wrong about Sirius Black," said Alice. "I couldn't believe that he was a traitor, but since all the evidence had pointed that way…"

"Well, let's see if Scabbers really is Peter Pettigrew," said Molly, her face pale. She opened the cage and dumped the Stunned rat onto the floor. Alice took out her wand and did the spell that would turn something or someone back into its original form. There was a flash of light and the rat disappeared to be replaced with the Stunned body of Peter Pettigrew.

Molly looked even paler, and sunk down onto the nearest chair. Remus looked away, feeling guilt over believing that evidence that Sirius had turned traitor. Alice, her voice a bit shaky but otherwise looking composed, sent a Patronus message to Frank, who had resumed his job as an Auror. After half an hour, a return message was sent saying that he'd be there at once, followed two minutes later by the cracks of Apparation. There was a knock on the front door and Molly hastened to answer it.

Frank, two fellow Aurors, one of them Kingsley Shacklebolt and the other Alastor Moody, and Amelia Bones were there. Amelia took notes as Remus, Alice, and Molly explained everything. Moody bound Peter, then Renervated him for questioning. At first Peter claimed confusion, then innocence, but when nobody believed him (plus the fact that he had the Dark Mark on his arm), he admitted everything. The Potters had switched Secret-Keepers on Sirius's advice, thinking that they were being clever and not realizing that Peter was the spy in their midst. Peter was the one to betray the Potters to the Dark Lord, and when Sirius had gone after him, Peter was the one that had cast the spell blasting up the street and twelve Muggles and faked his death by cutting off his finger and escaping as a rat. He had traveled for the next three weeks, before ending up in the Weasley garden and arranging to become Percy's pet rat, so that he would be able to hear the news from the wizarding world.

"That would explain Sirius Black's behavior after his arrest," Amelia said, looking down at her notes.

Moody nodded. "Black was in shock that Pettigrew had managed to fool us and escape, and he no doubt felt guilty for suggesting the switch in Secret-Keepers in the first place."

"Did Sirius even have a trial?" Remus asked. "I don't recall ever hearing about it in the news."

Amelia shook her head. "Crouch took a statement saying that Black said he was guilty, and Professor Dumbledore confirmed that Black was the Secret-Keeper, so he had him sent straight to Azkaban. The Ministry was still under the wartime laws a month ago, so Crouch was able to do that."

Kingsley sighed. "Once it gets out that he sent an innocent man to Azkaban without a trial, wartime laws or not, his job is going to suffer even more. It's bad enough that Crouch has to deal with his son being caught going after you, Frank and Alice. This is going to pretty much ruin his career."

"Idiot," Moody muttered, and Stunned Pettigrew again. "Well, let's get Pettigrew to the Ministry and talk to Minister Bagnold. We have to set up a trial and get the real traitor sentenced, and free Sirius and give him some sort of payment for his wrongful imprisonment."

"There is the matter of him being an unregistered Animagus," Frank pointed out. "But I suppose we can put it as the month he spent in Azkaban to be punishment enough for it, or have him pay a fine."

Amelia nodded and the group picked up Pettigrew and Disapparated away with him. Once they were gone, Molly explained to Percy that Scabbers had actually been a very bad wizard pretending to be a rat, and told Percy that he could get a new rat for Christmas.

"So Scabbers was really a bad wizard?" asked Percy, eyes wide in shock. "But why was he pretending to be a rat? Was he hiding from someone that wanted to punish him for being bad?"

Molly nodded. "He made it look like someone else had been bad instead, and then ran away. But now that he's been found, he will go to prison, and the person that everyone thought was bad will be free."

Percy thought it over for a minute, then said, "Good. Scabbers will be punished for being bad. Mum, I don't want a new rat for Christmas. Can I get some new books instead?"

"Of course, Percy," said Molly, giving her son a hug. "If you're all right, you can go on and play."

When Ria and Arthur came home from work, Remus and Molly told them about Peter Pettigrew being discovered and how he had been the real traitor, faking his death and framing Sirius for the crimes.

"I had thought it odd that Sirius would betray his friends and become a Death Eater, considering how much he hated his family and their ideals," said Ria. "It's such a relief to find that he was framed. But why would Pettigrew join Voldemort and betray his friends like that?"

"Peter was the weakest one in our group," Remus said. "I felt sorry for him, and was the one that convinced James and Sirius to befriend him. Peter in turn was thrilled to have such popular and skilled wizards be his friends, and encouraged their misbehavior. I guess sometime after graduation, his habit of having to be around powerful people led him to Voldemort, and he could have easily been scared into serving him. And while we were Peter's friends, James and Sirius weren't above teasing him, and that could have eventually led to annoyance at being overlooked or thought less of."

"I suppose," Ria said thoughtfully. "In any case, once Sirius is released, I'll volunteer to be his Healer. He'll need to recover from his month's stint in Azkaban, and I can update him on what's going on and have him take over as co-guardian of Harry, since he is Sirius's godson."

The next day, the headlines of the _Daily Prophet_ proclaimed Pettigrew's discovery and arrest, Sirius's wrongful imprisonment, and how Mr. Crouch had sent Sirius to Azkaban without a trial. After the trials of the Lestranges, Crouch Jr, and Pettigrew, Crouch Sr. was removed as the Head of the DMLE, with Amelia Bones promoted to the position in his place, and he resigned from the Ministry in disgrace.

Sirius was released, with a compensation of twenty thousand Galleons from the Ministry and the order to get his Animagus form registered as soon as possible. He then went to St. Mungo's to recover from his imprisonment, but other than the loss of weight and an air of gloominess, he hadn't suffered very much. As he confided to Ria and Remus, he had managed to stay sane by thinking of his innocence, which wasn't a happy thought that the dementors could suck away from him. Also, he periodically transformed into a dog, which lessoned the effects that the dementors had on him.

Being around Remus cleared up the gloominess, especially after they apologized to each other for thinking the other was the traitor and spent some time grieving together over James and Lily. Sirius started gaining back some of the weight he lost, thanks to the Nutrient Potions and the controlled diet that Ria put him on. After two weeks, he was as healthy as he had been prior to his imprisonment. That was when Professor Dumbledore came by to see him.

"I'm very sorry about that happened to you, Sirius," the headmaster said sorrowfully. "If I had known about the switch in Secret-Keepers, I would have done what I could to keep you from being arrested. Since I was still under the assumption that you were Secret-Keeper…"

"I understand, Professor Dumbledore," said Sirius. "Though I would have thought you would have at least doubted the turn of events and pushed for a trial, since you are Head of the Wizengamot. On the other hand, I suppose even the greatest wizards can be fooled. Even Remus ended up accepting the evidence against me and thought that perhaps I was a traitor, after all."

Professor Dumbledore nodded. "Peter Pettigrew had us all very well fooled. I really am sorry, Sirius."

"You're forgiven," said Sirius. "So, when can I see Harry? I remember Hagrid telling me that he was under orders to take Harry to you, or I wouldn't have gone after Pettigrew like that. But now that I'm a free man, I would like to see my godson and take custody of him, as per James and Lily's will."

"Harry is at his aunt and uncle's home," Dumbledore answered. "After the events of-"

"Excuse me?" Sirius interrupted angrily. "You don't mean to tell me that Harry is with Petunia and that Dursley guy she married? James told me all about their first meeting, and how it was a disaster. He promised Lily to make it up, but they never got a chance to, since Petunia only invited Lily and James to the wedding out of family duty and wanted nothing more to do with them after that. Harry being raised by the Dursleys is a horrible idea and I can't believe you actually did that."

"If you would let me explain instead of interrupting me, there is a reason I did that," Dumbledore said. "When Lily died, she invoked a magical protection on her son. Therefore, as long as Harry is living with his aunt and can call her house his home, he will be protected until he turns of age. There are wards I set up to ensure that, and I would be notified if Death Eaters tried to attack him there."

"The wards may protect him from Dark wizards, but will it protect him from his relatives?" Sirius retorted. "From Lily told me about her sister, Petunia was jealous about not being a witch and turned that into hate for the wizarding world and magic in general. Her husband would be just as bad, if not worse, since he seems to hate whatever he finds 'abnormal'. How do you know that they won't hate Harry for being a wizard and having to raise him? They could neglect him, or worse, abuse him."

"I am sure that no matter how much jealousy and dislike Petunia could have towards her sister and the wizarding world, she would still take in her nephew and properly care for him," Dumbledore said. "Harry will be fine, and will be raised away from all the fame, which is another concern of mine."

Sirius sighed. "You have a good point about that, and about Harry needing protection. But I still want to see him and visit him frequently. I am his godfather, and Lily and James charged me, along with Remus, with Harry's care in case something ever happened to them."

"I'm sorry, Sirius, but it would be better if you didn't visit Harry until after he starts Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "It would be safer for him, and Petunia and Vernon could decide to turn over custody of Harry to you if you were to visit, which would be fine if he didn't need the protection so much."

Sirius, upon hearing that he was to be denied visits with his godson, became furious, but before he could say or do anything, Ria came in. "Professor Dumbledore, I think it is time you leave. My patient is still recovering and I don't want you upsetting him and undoing his healing."

"All right," said Professor Dumbledore, rising to his feet. "I am sorry for upsetting you, Sirius, but if you calm down and think it over, you'll understand. I will talk with you at another date."

Once he had left, Ria said, "Sirius, get ahold of yourself, and then I will take you to my home. There is someone you will want to see, and the only reason Remus and I didn't tell you before is because you were still recovering, and therefore we were unsure of how you would react to it."

Sirius looked confused, but composed himself and then the two Flooed to Ria's home. Remus was waiting for them, holding Harry in his arms. "Harry?" Sirius gasped, a dumbfounded look on his face. "How? Why?" Without waiting for an answer, he took Harry and kissed his godson.

Once Sirius had gotten over his shock and finished fussing over Harry, Ria and Remus explained what had happened. "Da-Drat!" Sirius swore. "I knew leaving Harry with his aunt and uncle was a bad idea. If you hadn't found him, Ria, or they hadn't left him where you could find him, who knows what could have happened to Harry. I'd give Dumbledore a piece of my mind, but I guess if he knew where Harry really was, he'd return my godson to the Dursleys and force them to keep him. So I'll hold off on that for now. So you're taking care of Harry while Ria's at work, Moony?"

"Along with Molly Weasley and Alice Longbottom," responded Remus. "Originally it was just Molly, as she has experience with children, what with having seven of her own, and you know Ria was once engaged to her brother. After contacting me and the Longbottoms, since we were friends with Lily and James and Ria wanted us in Harry's life, Alice and I got added to the caretaker list. You know Alice has Neville, and Molly's son Ron is only a few months older than Harry, so they'd be good playmates for him. Susan Bones got added to the group, since she's the same age as the other three, and she's the niece of Amelia Bones, who is best friends with Ria, and is the one that filed the adoption paperwork."

"Tomorrow we'll go to the Ministry and file another set naming you co-guardian, Sirius," Ria said. "I would have you take custody of Harry completely, but I think he needs a mother of sorts in his life."

"That's fine," said Sirius. "You were the one to find Harry, after all, and arranged everything for him."

"Er, this may upset you, but I did speak to Severus Snape," Ria said. "I know you didn't get along with him in school, but he was friends with Lily, and I can tell that he still cares for her despite her ending the friendship. He was mourning her death when I saw him, and he's willing, for her sake, to tell Harry about his mother, though he's going to stay silent on the subject of James."

Sirius opened his mouth, then shut it again. After a minute, he sighed, and said, "I don't like it at all, but it's true that Sniv-Snape was friends with Lily and would be able to tell Harry stories about his mother. The only stories me and Remus could tell before Lily and James started dating would be what James did to try to get Lily to go out with him, and the prefect stuff Remus did with Lily."

"Anyway, I spoke with Professor Snape yesterday," said Ria. "He's the Potions Master at Hogwarts, if you didn't know. He's accepted Remus's apology for what happened during school, will accept yours if you apologize, and is willing to be on civil terms, but has no intention of ever becoming friends."

"I suppose I did go too far with my behavior towards Snape in school," Sirius reluctantly conceded. "I will apologize to him, but I don't plan on being friends with him, either."

"That's fine, I just want the two of you to be civil, for Lily's and Harry's sakes," said Ria. "Now, let's get you settled in, Sirius, and you can feed Harry his dinner later, if you want."


	3. Chapter 3

Several years passed and things were going well for Harry Potter. He had a happy life with his Aunt Ria, godfather Uncle Sirius, and (as his father had once jokingly put it) god-wolf Uncle Remus. He was best friends with Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Susan Bones, and good friends with Ron's twin brothers Fred and George and sister Ginny, and Luna Lovegood, whose mother was a cousin to his Aunt Ria and therefore her family had eventually been trusted with Harry's true whereabouts. Professors McGonagall and Snape, along with Hagrid, also visited, during the summer holidays, and told Harry stories about his parents (though Professor Snape focused on Lily) and of Hogwarts.

Since his Aunt Ria's family had made a point of being knowledgeable of the Muggle world, so that they could fit in if necessary, Harry was also taught about the Muggle world, and learned to read Muggle books. As his Uncle Remus's mother had been a Muggle, and Uncle Sirius had learned quite a bit about the Muggle world as a way to rebel against his family, they were capable of teaching Harry and his friends when Aunt Ria had to work, which was the afternoon shift at St. Mungo's.

Therefore, it shouldn't have come as a surprise when one day at breakfast, eight-year old Harry said, "I want to go to a Muggle school, so I can be 'round other kids besides my friends."

"Are you sure about this?" Aunt Ria asked, exchanging looks with Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus.

Harry nodded. "I'm going to be 'round lots of kids at Hogwarts, so going to a Muggle school can help me 'perience it before I have to go. Ron, Susan, and Neville want to do the same."

"That's true," said Uncle Sirius. "But is there something wrong with us, plus your Aunt Alice and Aunt Molly, teaching you guys? I thought you liked having us be your teachers."

"We do," said Harry. "And we still want you teaching us magic stuff. We just want to see what going to school is like, and not wait till we can go to Hogwarts. We know 'bout the Muggle world, and can pretend to be like Muggles. We won't talk 'bout magic, 'cept when we're imagining stuff."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt for Harry to attend a Muggle primary school for a year or two," said Aunt Ria. "It would certainly help familiarize him to a school setting, and being around other kids besides his friends and their siblings. What do you say that we talk it over with the other parents?"

Uncle Remus nodded. "Harry did say that his friends wanted to go to school with him, so they're likely bringing up the subject to their parents as well. All right, Harry, we'll see if this can happen."

Harry cheered at the news, and then turned his attention back to his breakfast.

After a week and several discussions, it was decided to enroll Harry, Susan, Neville, and Ron in the local primary school. The Longbottoms had moved to the same town Harry lived in a few years ago, but for Ron and Susan, fake documents were made via magic to make them appear to be residents. The story (which was true) was that the four children had been homeschooled, but because they were going to attend boarding school one day, it was decided to get them used to a school setting.

So when term started in September, the four found themselves in Mrs. Channing's third grade class. As they were new to the school, their fellow classmates gave them curious looks when Mrs. Channing had them introduce themselves. Some of those looks became annoyed when the teacher did a review on what the class had learned in the previous grade and it became clear that the four, due to being homeschooled, were a bit advanced. In fact, only one other student, a girl with bushy brown hair, was as knowledgeable as those four, and she got even more dirty looks from their classmates.

However, as Harry and his friends didn't actively show off their knowledge the way the bushy-haired girl, who was named Hermione Granger, did, the annoyed looks stopped. In fact, by recess, the class warmed up to them, especially as Ron and Harry proved to be good at kicking a football around, and Neville was a good runner. Susan chose to sit with Hermione and talk with her.

After ten minutes, one of the other girls saw the two and asked, "Why are you with the bookworm and teacher's pet, Susan? You shouldn't be with her. Come join us."

Susan looked coolly at the girl and her group of friends, then said, "No thank you. Hermione is very nice and I like her. Also, I don't make friends with people that are rude and call others names."

Hermione, who had turned red, muttered, "It's all right. You're better off being friends with Amara and her group, Susan. I said earlier that most of the other students don't like me."

"But you're a nice girl, Hermione," Susan protested. "So what if you like to read? I do too. And Auntie Amelia taught me to be polite to others, and so did my friends' parents."

A few of the boys drifted over. "Susie Goosey," one of them taunted, causing the others to laugh and congratulate him for coming up with the nickname. "That's what you are, if you're going to be friends with the Nerdy Hermy. Maybe you could start your own bookworm club for losers!"

Harry, Neville, and Ron came over. "Hey, don't call Susan names!" Ron snapped.

"And don't tease Hermione either!" Harry added. After hearing from Uncle Severus about how he had been teased back in school and only Lily had stood up for him, Harry despised bullies.

"You're siding with them?" asked one of the boys incredulously. "I thought you were cool."

"Susan is our friend," Neville said firmly. "So back off, Nigel. The same goes for the rest of you."

"Why should I?" Nigel snapped. "Nerdy Hermy's a teacher's pet, and weird. You're all stupid and weird for siding with her, and your friend is Susie Goosey like Eddie said."

"Don't call Susan that!" Hermione snapped, glaring at Nigel. He opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, he ended up falling backwards onto the ground, as if he had been shoved.

"Who pushed me?" Nigel demanded as he got to his feet, but no one had touched him, or seen anyone that had. Harry and his friends exchanged looks, because they knew that Nigel's fall was probably due to magic, but none of them had done it, not even the accidental kind. Amara pointed out that one of the teachers was looking in their direction, so Nigel shut up and they all scattered.

The three boys sat down with Susan and Hermione. "I hate bullies," Harry said. "Uncle Sev told me that he used to be teased at school, and only my mum, who was his friend, would stand up for him. So, Hermione, want to join our group of friends? You seem nice, and Susan likes you."

"We could use another girl in our group," Susan added. "The only girls I'm friends with are Ron's sister Ginny and her friend Luna, but they're younger than us and not as close."

"You're serious about me being your friend?" asked Hermione. "The other kids won't like it, and will tease you like they do with me for being friends with me."

"We don't care," said Ron. "Our parents, and Harry's Aunt Ria and Uncle Sirius, taught us to be polite and not make fun of other people. And we think you're like us."

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione. "I'm just really smart and like to read a lot."

"Er, has anything odd happened whenever you got mad or something?" Neville asked. "Like when Nigel fell a few minutes ago, but nobody shoved him or anything."

Hermione nodded. "Lots of times. I also once made a book float towards me from the top shelf. I think maybe I'm de-de-developing the special mind powers that Matilda did."

As the other four had read Roald Dahl's books the previous year, they understood what Hermione was talking about. "It's not mind powers," said Harry. "It's magic. We can do magic too, but not as good as the grown-up witches and wizards. We'll go to school to learn magic, but not till we're eleven."

Susan picked up a pebble and after a minute of concentration, made it float above her palm for a few seconds. Neville, after some concentration, turned the pebble red, and Ron was able to make it float for a few seconds as well. Harry turned it back to its original grey color.

"That's what we can do on our own," said Neville. "If we get happy or mad or something, we can do stronger magic acc'dent'ly. But you can't tell anyone else 'bout this. Well, 'cept your parents. Witches and wizards aren't s'posed to tell Muggles about magic, 'cept when they're related to one."

"So Muggles are people that can't do magic?" asked Hermione.

Ron nodded. "That's what witches and wizards call them. We-" At that point, recess was over, so they told Hermione that they'd tell her more after school was over.

When school ended, Harry invited Hermione over to his house, where Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius explained more about the wizarding world and demonstrated a couple of spells. After that, Aunt Ria (who had switched to day shift) volunteered to explain the wizarding world to Hermione's parents (who were dentists and ran the local dental clinic) and help them get used to everything.

The Grangers were very surprised after being told, but it did explain the odd occurrences that had happened around their daughter. They gave their permission for Hermione to join the magic lessons, and accepted an offer to learn more about the wizarding world.

By the end of the week, Hermione was a firm addition to the group of friends, and the other four liked her immensely. Having friends helped her loosen up a bit, and while she still enjoyed reading, she didn't do it as much since she now could do other activities with them. Some of their classmates tried to tease them, but as they were quite capable of standing up for themselves (not to mention a couple of minor accidental magic incidents and getting in trouble with Mrs. Channing), their classmates eventually just ignored the five.

Hermione admitted that she hadn't always been friendless. Back in kindergarten, she had made two friends, and had been on good terms with the other students in her class. However, at some point in first grade, her love of reading and intelligence caused students to be annoyed, which then eventually led to teasing. That in turn led to accidental magic, causing her classmates to think she was weird in addition to being a teacher's pet and bookworm. As for her two friends, one stopped being her friend and joined Amara's group, while the other one ended up moving away halfway through second grade.

"Julia wasn't much of a friend if she'd leave you like that and join Amara," Neville said sourly.

Hermione shrugged. "Well, I've got friends now, and that's all that matters. What's Quidditch?"

The others exchanged looks at the change of subject, but didn't comment and Harry and Ron happily explained about the wizarding sport. From there, the conversation moved on to Diagon Alley, and what they knew about Hogwarts. Ron was able to tell more about the school compared to the others, as he had three older brothers attending there, and the same was true about Diagon Alley, as he had been there several times on school shopping trips. Harry had only been there once, last year, and he had been under a Glamour Charm to avoid being recognized. The same was true of Neville and Susan, except for the Glamour Charm, since they didn't have to worry about being recognized.

They finally had to stop talking when it came time for them to go to their respective homes for dinner. The five bid each other good-bye, and then hurried to their homes.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: This chapter may turn out to be rather sad for readers.

Harry was sitting on the couch in the living room, reading the book, _Redwall_ by Muggle author Brian Jacques, that Hermione had given him for his tenth birthday last week, and waiting for his friends to come over. The fireplace flared up, causing him to look up, but it wasn't any of his friends coming through. Instead, the frantic face of Mr. Lovegood was there, shouting, "Ria! Ria! I need you at once!"

Harry jumped up. "I'll get her, Uncle Xeno." He dashed out the room, shouting, "Aunt Ria! Uncle Xeno's firecalling you, and it sounds like it's an emergency!"

Aunt Ria hurried down the stairs and into the living room. "What is the problem, Xenophilius?"

"An accident happened when Pandora was experimenting!" Mr. Lovegood wailed.

"I'll be there at once," Aunt Ria said, Summoning her Healer's bag. Mr. Lovegood's face vanished and she said, "Harry, tell Sirius and Remus where I've gone." With that, she Disapparated with a pop.

"What did Xeno need?" Sirius asked, coming in the living room. Before Harry could reply, the fireplace flared up again, and Neville tumbled out a second later. As he got to his feet, Susan tumbled out the fireplace, and the doorbell rang. Harry went to answer it, suspecting that it was Hermione.

When he came back to the living room with her, Ron had arrived too. Harry finally answered Sirius's question. "Uncle Xeno said that an accident happened when Aunt Pandora was experimenting. That's why he needed Aunt Ria to come at once. I hope it's nothing too bad. Uncle Xeno looked upset."

Sirius looked worried. "I hope so too. Pandora's a talented witch, and if something went wrong when she was doing one of her spell experimentations, that's bad. I'll go talk to Remus."

Harry's friends all had worried looks on their faces. They all liked Luna, even if she was closer friends with Ginny instead of them, and liked her parents, even if her father was a bit odd. As Sirius had said, Mrs. Lovegood was a talented witch, and as she had never had an accident before when doing a spell experimentation, having one happen now was very serious.

The five sat anxiously on the couch and two armchairs, praying that nothing too bad had happened. After half an hour, Aunt Ria Apparated into the room, a despondent look on her face. "Is Aunt Pandora all right?" Harry demanded, jumping to his feet and running over to her.

Aunt Ria shook her head, tears forming into her eyes. "There was nothing I, or any Healer, could do. When Pandora's experiment went awry, it caused too much magical damage, and I couldn't heal it. The only thing I could do was make her last moments easier as she bid Xeno and Luna good-bye."

"You mean Aunt Pandora is – dead?" Neville whispered, looking horrified, while Susan and Hermione burst into tears, Ron punched a cushion, and Harry ran out the room, shouting that it was unfair.

"What's unfair, Harry?" asked Remus, intercepting Harry in the hallway.

"Aunt Ria couldn't heal Aunt Pandora, and now she's dead!" Harry spat, tears running down his face. "If she can heal me of chicken pox, she should be able to heal Aunt Pandora."

"Chicken pox isn't the same as magical damage," Remus pointed out. "It's more a Muggle disease than a magical one, and people don't usually die from it. Magical illnesses and injuries are harder to heal, and if there's too much damage, then healing isn't always possible."

"But Aunt Pandora shouldn't be dead!" Harry cried. "She's a talented witch and is careful when she does her experiments! Why did she have to have an accident happen to her today?"

"Harry, even the most skilled of witches and wizards will have accidents happen to them," Remus said gently. "I know what happened to Pandora was terrible and shouldn't have happened, but it did."

"And now Luna won't have her mum anymore!" Harry wailed. "I don't have a mum, either, but that's because Voldemort killed her, not because of a stupid accident."

"Luna still has her father," Remus gently pointed out. "So they have each other during this crisis."

"I guess," said Harry. "But it's still not fair what happened to Aunt Pandora, and Luna shouldn't have to lose her mum!" With that, he ran upstairs to his room and slammed shut the door.

Remus and Sirius went to the living room and did their best to comfort the other four children before sending them home so they could tell their families what happened. Ria went up to her room to have a good cry, since Pandora Lovegood had been her cousin and they'd been fairly close, while Sirius and Remus went to comfort Luna and her father and help set up the funeral arrangements.

When they returned, Harry had calmed down enough to come out of his room, but he was still upset that Mrs. Lovegood had died, though it was now sadness instead of anger. At dinner, he picked at his plate of food, only eating four bites, and turned down dessert, even though it was his favorite, treacle tart. His guardians couldn't bring themselves to force him to finish his food, and just told him to dump his leftovers in the trash and put his plate and fork in the sink. Harry did so and returned to his room, where he took out his photo album and stared at the pictures containing Mrs. Lovegood.

Three days later was the funeral. Harry was wearing the new black suit that Aunt Ria had gotten for him, with a black armband. He cried silently throughout the service, but stopped at the end, when people got up to speak. After the last adult had finished, and Luna had said a few words, Harry got up, to the surprise of everyone, since there had been no plans for Luna's friends to speak.

"Aunt Pandora was a wonderful person, and very nice to me and the rest of my friends. She taught me the theory behind magic, and showed me how spells could be invented or used in different ways. I'm sad that she's gone, but I know she's in Heaven with my mother and father. Uncle Sirius says that my mum was good at Charms and wanted to experiment with them. Since she was killed, she couldn't do so, but Aunt Pandora experimented with Charms and I'm sure she's telling Mum all about it in Heaven. I miss Aunt Pandora lots, but I know Luna misses her more, and I hope she is watching over us."

Harry burst into tears again and ran from the podium to Aunt Ria, who pulled him into a hug. The minister concluded the service, and everyone filed out the church to the nearby graveyard for the burial. Luna and her friends tossed flowers on top of the casket once it was lowered into the hole, and then the adults, first making sure that there were no Muggles around (besides Hermione's parents), magically covered the hole with dirt and turf. In front of the tombstone, Luna placed a golden box that had "Pandora's Box" engraved on it (a reference to the Greek myth, where Mrs. Lovegood had gotten her name from), and everyone placed a few flowers in it. With that, they all left the graveyard.

At the Lovegood home, the adults sat with Mr. Lovegood, while the children gathered in Luna's room. Percy looked distinctly awkward, as he was older than the others, and after saying a few words about missing Mrs. Lovegood and being sorry for Luna's loss, left to be with Bill and Charlie.

"Thank you for being here, everyone," said Luna. "I'm sad that Mum is gone, but before she died, she told me that I would be with her again someday, and she promised to watch over me and Daddy. She also said that she was going to talk with Lily and James Potter, so what you said was true, Harry."

Harry shifted in his seat. He honestly did believe that Aunt Pandora would be with his parents, but he couldn't exactly empathize with Luna. Yes, Aunt Pandora's death was upsetting and he mourned her, but she wasn't his parent. As for his parents, they had died when he was fifteen months old, and had no memory of them or their deaths, except for the green light of the Killing Curse. All he had was the stories that his parents' friends, Hagrid, and Professor McGonagall told him, and that wasn't the same.

"Remember the time Aunt Pandora showed us the spell she adapted for fireworks?" Fred asked.

The others nodded, and soon they were all reminiscing about Mrs. Lovegood.


	5. Chapter 5

Harry was eating his breakfast when an owl flew in the open kitchen window and landed on the table. It stuck out one leg, which an envelope was attached to it, and he removed the letter and grabbed an owl treat from the perch in the corner, which he offered to the owl. The owl accepted the treat and after eating it, flew away. Harry looked down at the envelope, and let out a shriek of excitement when he saw the Hogwarts crest and the fact that it was addressed to him, right down to his bedroom.

"What's going on, Harry?" asked Sirius, looking up from the _Daily Prophet_ , which he'd been reading.

"I got my Hogwarts letter!" Harry exclaimed as he eagerly opened the envelope and took out the two pieces of parchment, one the acceptance letter and the other his supplies list.

"Good for you, Harry," said Ria, putting down the pancakes she'd just finished making. "We'll have to arrange a date to go to Diagon Alley for your school things. Do you want another pancake?"

"Yes, please," said Harry, as he read the letter and then moved on to look at the supplies list.

"What about going on your birthday, Harry?" Remus suggested. "It'd be a good birthday treat. We could see if your friends can go to Diagon Alley then as well."

"That's a good idea," said Harry. "And we can combine it with celebrating Nev's birthday, since his birthday is the day before mine. Can I get an owl for my animal? I don't want a cat or a toad."

"We'll see," said Sirius, which Harry knew was really 'Most likely yes, but I want it to be a surprise'.

"Finish your breakfast, Harry, and then you can see if your friends got their letters too," Ria said.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang and the Grangers were admitted. Hermione was ecstatic as she waved her Hogwarts letter around excitedly. "I know you and the others told me about magic and how I was a witch, Harry, but getting the letter makes it truly real for me. I can't wait to start Hogwarts."

Harry grinned. "Me neither. Uncle Remus thinks we should go to Diagon Alley for the school supplies on my birthday, and make it into a birthday treat. Are you able to come then, Hermione?"

Hermione looked at her parents pleadingly, and her mother said, "I don't see why not. We don't have any appointments on the thirty-first, and we were planning on asking you guys to show us around."

Mr. and Mrs. Granger then sat down in the kitchen to discuss things with Ria, Sirius, and Remus, while Harry and Hermione went to the living room to firecall their friends. They had all received their letters as well, and decided to meet up at the Weasley home. Ron's parents were fine with going to Diagon Alley for school supplies on the thirty-first and turning it into a combined birthday treat for Harry and Neville, and the Longbottoms and Susan's Aunt Amelia approved it also.

After that, the five settled in Ron's room. "It's going to be great attending Hogwarts and learning magic," said Ron. "I mean the practical stuff, not the theory that our families have been teaching us."

Hermione nodded. "What house do you think we'll all be in? I can't really decide on one, though I think Gryffindor sounds really good. I hope we're all in the same house. "

"Gryffindor does sound good, and my parents, plus Uncles Sirius and Remus were in that house," said Harry. "But it's got a rivalry with Slytherin, and I'd rather not be part of it. I'm thinking Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff?" asked Susan incredulously. "What made you think of going there? Not that I've anything against Hufflepuff. Aunt Amelia and my parents were in that house, and I want to be Sorted there."

"I think we'd be good candidates for Hufflepuff," Harry said. "We're loyal to each other, we're willing to work hard for the things we want, other than the occasional bout of laziness, and we're just and fair. And can you imagine how great it would be for Hufflepuff to get someone like me in it?"

"But you don't ever make a big deal of your fame, Harry," Neville pointed out.

"Yes, but it's not like I can stop being famous. So I might as well use it for good. Hufflepuff is a great house, but it has a reputation for being weak, or seen as the 'leftover house', but all Helga Hufflepuff wanted was to accept every magical person in Britain and give them a good education."

"True," said Susan. "And Aunt Amelia has told me that there have been famous witches and wizards from Hufflepuff, but other houses have been known to claim them as their own. Also, Hufflepuff hasn't gotten much glory and honor lately, and it could use some. Sure, they aren't actively seeking fame or glory the way the other houses do, but that doesn't mean they don't want any."

"You've got a point," Ron said thoughtfully. "There isn't anything wrong with being in Hufflepuff, and being in that house would be good for us. But what would my family say if I was Sorted there?"

"Fred and George would probably tease you," Neville said. "But they wouldn't mean it in a, what's the word, malicious way. Your parents would be fine with it, and so should your other siblings."

Ron sighed. "So I guess I'll be the first Weasley in several generations to not be Sorted in Gryffindor. Mum and Dad will understand my wanting to be with my friends and desire to improve Hufflepuff's negative reputation. I know Ginny will definitely understand, since she's been saying lately that she wants to be in Ravenclaw with Luna. Well, as long as I'm not in Slytherin, I'll be happy."

"It's more so Voldemort and his Death Eaters that gave Slytherin it's awful reputation," Hermione pointed out. "From what I've read, it did have a reputation for believing in pureblood supremacy and the rivalry with Gryffindor, but it wasn't until Voldemort came along that things got so bad."

"Well, I doubt my being in Slytherin would change its reputation any," Harry said. "All it would achieve is the press having a field day over the 'Boy-Who-Lived' being Sorted into Slytherin, and having many people ask if I was really a Dark wizard and Voldemort was after me to take out the competition."

"Would people really think that, Harry?" asked Neville, looking visibly disturbed.

"Not the people that know me, but that's only a handful of the entire wizarding population," answered Harry. "Most witches and wizards in Britain don't know anything about me except what's printed in _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_ and similar history books. They've got this image of me built up in their minds, and being in Slytherin would destroy it. The ones that sided with Voldemort and escaped arrest would wonder if I'm a new Dark Lord in the making and want to court me as an ally, and everyone else would at least question what I'm doing in Slytherin."

"How did you ever think of that?" asked Ron. "I never considered that happening."

"I didn't think of it, Ron. Professor Snape was the one that explained it all to me over the Christmas holidays, when he visited and I said I was thinking about what house I wanted to be in."

"Professor Snape has a point," Hermione said. "If I hadn't gotten to know you, Harry, then I would have formed an opinion of you based on what I read, and that would have influenced me."

Just at that moment, there was a knock on the door, and Mrs. Weasley came in, a worried look on her face. "Professor Dumbledore just arrived. Harry, you are to stay in this room, since we can't let him find out about your whereabouts now. Ron and Neville, you two need to come downstairs, please."

Once they'd left, Susan asked in a whisper, "Why would Professor Dumbledore be visiting?"

Harry shrugged. "Who knows? It must be important, though." Since none of them wanted to alert Professor Dumbledore to their presence, they borrowed some of Ron's books and read.

After half an hour, they heard the faint sound of someone, presumably the headmaster, leaving. A minute later, they heard footsteps on the stairs, and then Ron and Neville, looking quite angry about something, burst into the room, followed by a visibly disturbed Mrs. Weasley.

"Can you believe the nerve of Professor Dumbledore?" Ron ranted. "He wanted me and Neville to get friendly with you, Harry! And not because he thinks you'll have to adjust to the wizarding world and will need friends to help with that. He wants us to practically spy on you and report to him!"

"Spy on me?" Harry asked blankly. "Whatever for? Does he think I'll turn out to be evil or something?"

"He wants to prevent that from happening," Neville said. "He wants us, who come from Gryffindor families, to befriend you with the purpose of steering you towards Gryffindor and helping you 'fulfill your destiny', whatever that was. Probably to defeat the Dark Lord if he ever returns to power."

"Also, Professor Dumbledore wanted Arthur and me to act like surrogate parents towards you," Mrs. Weasley said. "He said that you might not like Muggle world, or be too close to your aunt and uncle, and would need someone to turn to in the wizarding world. He was under the impression that as the Weasleys were Gryffindors and supported him, we would be more than willing to do this. I mean, we would be willing to show love and support to any unloved child in need of care, but the fact that he had to ask us to do this, with the implication that we were to report to him, is insulting!"

"Why would Professor Dumbledore think that I could possibly turn evil?" asked Harry. "After what happened to my parents, I'd probably be the last person to become evil."

"Do keep in mind that he thinks you grew up with your aunt and uncle, Harry," Hermione said. "Since they didn't want you, if they had kept you, they would have made your life horrible. People have been known to become bitter, become abusers, or turn dark from growing up in abusive environments."

"I suppose," said Harry. "But I can't imagine becoming any of what you said even if I had been raised by my relatives. I'd dislike them, but I don't see myself wanting to hurt them or becoming dark."

"There's another level to that," Susan said, thinking of something. "Say you did live with your relatives instead of Aunt Ria and Uncle Sirius. How would you react to being a wizard and going to Hogwarts?"

Harry thought it over for several seconds. "I would probably be disbelieving at first, but then accept it and be happy to escape my relatives for about ten months out of the year. The wizarding world would be wonderful to me and I would enjoy being a part of it and having people actually like me."

"Which means you would be very, what's the word, impressionable," said Susan. "So if someone, like say the Malfoy family, was nice to you, you might get the idea that Slytherin is a good house to be in, and could befriend the son, I think his name is Draco? By having what Professor Dumbledore thinks are staunch Gryffindors befriending you instead, you would be steered in a different direction."

"You're right, Susan," Harry said with a sigh. "But I wish you weren't. I don't want to be manipulated."

"There's something else," said Mrs. Weasley. "I pointed out to Professor Dumbledore that if you were with your Muggle relatives, they wouldn't be knowledgeable about Diagon Alley, Harry. He said I was right, and decided that he was going to have Hagrid collect you on your birthday. Since Hagrid knows the truth and is friends with you, that won't be an issue, but I thought you should know."

Harry scowled. "And since Hagrid was in Gryffindor, and was completely loyal to Professor Dumbledore until he found out about my relatives, he'd be another person to 'steer me in the right direction'. With the way things are going, maybe I should just hide the fact of who really raised me."

"You may have to," said Mrs. Weasley. "I wouldn't put it past Professor Dumbledore to insist that you would be safer at your relatives because of the supposed blood wards, and send you back to them despite the fact that Sirius was named as your guardian in your parents' will and there's paperwork filed listing him and Ria as your guardians. After everything else that Professor Dumbledore's done…"

"So what did you all tell Professor Dumbledore after he made the request to befriend Harry with the purpose of spying on him?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't say anything," said Ron. "I was too angry, and I knew if I did speak, I could accidentally say something I shouldn't in my anger. Mum did show that she was insulted by the request, saying that she would have taken Harry under her wing anyway, but agreed to keep tabs on him."

"I realized what Aunt Molly was up to, so I told Professor Dumbledore that me and Ron would become your friends, Harry," Neville added. "Of course, we're already your friends and have no intention on spying on you, but as long as Professor Dumbledore thinks we're doing what he asks, it'll be fine."

"Well, it's going to put a kink in whatever Dumbledore has planned when I get Sorted into Hufflepuff," said Harry. "I have no intention of getting in Gryffindor just to make him think that things are fine."

Mrs. Weasley looked startled at this, so Harry explained his reasons for wanting to be in Hufflepuff. "I think you have a point," she said when he was done. "I suppose the rest of you will be going with him into Hufflepuff. Which means you will be the first Weasley to not be in Gryffindor, Ron. That will likely be of some significance, like how Ginny is the first girl born a Weasley for several generations."

Ron shrugged. "I guess. I just want to be with my friends and improve Hufflepuff's reputation."

"Well, I'm going to speak with Sirius and Ria about Professor Dumbledore's visit," Mrs. Weasley said. "Percy's in charge while I'm gone and please go to him if anything should happen."

After she had left, Neville said, "I wonder why Dumbledore wanted Aunt Molly and Uncle Arthur to act as surrogate parents when he knows that you've got Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus, Harry. They'd be the natural ones to take you under their wing, since one's your godfather and the other one was close friends with your parents. And Dumbledore did say they could see you once you started Hogwarts."

"He probably doesn't think they'd be that suitable to guide me," Harry said. "Uncle Sirius was rather reckless in the past, and has made it clear that he didn't like Dumbledore forbidding him from seeing me. As for Uncle Remus, he is a werewolf, so maybe Dumbledore wants to wait until I'm more familiar with the wizarding world before I can see him so I won't freak out from learning he's a lycanthrope."

"But what are you going to do?" Hermione asked. "You know all about the wizarding world, so how are you going to hide your knowledge when you're supposed to have grown up in the Muggle world? Even if we assume that your relatives told you about your heritage, all you would know is that magic is real, witches and wizards live separately, and that there's a school of magic called Hogwarts."

"I could have read all about the wizarding world once I got my acceptance letter," Harry suggested.

"That only works so far," Hermione said. "I've read many books and had you guys and your families tell me about the wizarding world, but there's still stuff I don't know since I wasn't immersed in it from birth. You may think it's fine if your glasses accidentally break while using the Floo, Harry, since you can just fix it with a Repairing Charm, but I don't automatically think that. It takes me a minute."

Harry thought for a minute. "Well, maybe I'll just pretend that Padfoot and Moony visited me often and introduced me to the wizarding world. It would be believable that Uncle Sirius would have gone behind Professor Dumbledore's back and convinced Uncle Remus to do the same."  
"That will only work so long," Susan said. "Eventually Professor Dumbledore will find out that your relatives abandoned you and that Aunt Ria and Uncle Sirius adopted you."

"Well, I can't be sent to the Dursleys," Harry said. "The blood wards vanished when they abandoned me. If the wards were to be reset, they still wouldn't work, since I wouldn't consider my relatives' house to be my home. On top of that, Aunt Ria and Uncle Sirius visited the Dursleys and got them to sign papers turning over custody of me. It didn't take coercion, since they didn't want me in the first place. So those papers further strengthen the adoption paperwork that was filed."

"I still don't see why Professor Dumbledore is trying to manipulate you," Hermione said. "Or planning out your future. I understand that Voldemort's after you and therefore you'll have to fight him if he returns to power, but that's no reason for your future to be controlled."

"I don't think Dumbledore is really trying to manipulate me," said Harry. "It's just that since he led the war against Voldemort, he'd be something of a chessmaster, and probably got in the habit of seeing people as chess pieces. So he'd want me to move a certain way, and therefore is trying to guide me. Look, I really don't want to continue this. I came here to celebrate getting our Hogwarts letters."

The others exchanged looks, and finally Ron suggested that they all go out and fly for a bit. As Harry, Neville, and Susan couldn't go flying where they lived due to residing near Muggles, they kept their brooms at the Weasley broomshed. Hermione didn't have a broom of her own, but she used Charlie's old Shooting Star whenever she flew, since she wasn't that confident on a faster broom. Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Neville flew on Comet Two Sixties, which they'd gotten for their ninth birthdays, and Susan had a Cleansweep Two. The five of them spent a pleasurable hour flying, making sure not to fly too high so the Muggles down in the village wouldn't see them.

Author's Note: I would like to make clear that Professor Dumbledore is not the evil, super-manipulative person that is portrayed in some fics, only interested in using Harry so that he and Voldemort will both die and then Dumbledore will take all the credit. In my fic, he has good intentions, but as the saying goes 'The road to Hell is ordered by the righteous, planned by the well-meaning, and paved with their good intentions'. Therefore, Professor Dumbledore is not above in engaging in some manipulation where Harry is concerned, but only to make sure that he turns out a good person that can fulfill his destiny to defeat Voldemort.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry woke up on the morning of his birthday feeling very happy. Not only was today his eleventh birthday, but he also was going to Diagon Alley with his friends for their school supplies. He quickly brushed his teeth, washed his face, and got dressed, than bounded down the stairs to the kitchen.

His guardians greeted him with a 'Happy Birthday', and Harry looked at the table to see that Sirius had apparently gone overboard with presents, since there were at least a dozen of them piled there.

"Er, how many presents did you all get me?" asked Harry, knowing that he would be getting more later from his friends and their families, and probably something from Hagrid.

"I got you eleven presents," Sirius replied happily. "It's not every day that my godson turns eleven. Ria and Remus each got you a present, and Professor McGonagall and Snape sent you something."

Harry, while pleased at the presents, sighed at having to open so many of them. Since breakfast wasn't quite ready yet, he decided to sit down and start opening some of the gifts. The first one he unwrapped was Professor Snape's present, and it turned out to be a potions kit. That would be very useful for Potions class that year, and would mean he wouldn't have to buy as much for the class.

The second one was Remus's gift, and that was a yellow and black striped journal. The third was from Aunt Ria, and contained the entire _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy, along with _The Simarillion_. Professor McGonagall's gift was _A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration_ and a luxury eagle quill.

Finally Harry started unwrapping the presents Sirius had given him. The largest gift turned out to be the latest broom, a Nimbus Two Thousand. "Uncle Sirius, you know first-years can't bring brooms to Hogwarts," Harry pointed out, as he stared at the broom in delight.

"Yes, but I thought you could use a new broom," said Sirius. "You can give your Comet Two Sixty to Hermione to use, since she's gotten better at flying and it still won't be too fast for her."

Harry nodded and then tore his gaze from the broom to open the next gift. By the time he was done, he'd gotten a set of emerald green dress robes, a practice snitch, two books on the Appleby Arrows and Falmouth Falcons Quidditch teams, a wand holster, a watch, a chess set, a set of gobstones, and a camera. The eleventh gift wasn't so much a gift as it was being given a family heirloom, however.

"James had lent his Invisibility Cloak to Dumbledore before he died," Sirius explained. "I spoke with Dumbledore and got him to give the Cloak to me so that I could give it to you. So, as your godfather, Harry, I am presenting you with the Potter family Invisibility Cloak, reportedly the one gifted by Death to the youngest of the three Peverell brothers, whom you happen to be descended from."

Harry knew the story of the Deathly Hallows, which the Cloak was part of, and that unlike the story that was told in _Tales of Beedle the Bard_ , the Hallows were more likely created by the Peverells. In any case, being given a Potter family heirloom was quite touching and wonderful, and he tried it out.

Ria brought a platter of chocolate chip waffles (Harry's favorite breakfast food) and another of bacon to the table. "Enjoy the Cloak, but please don't use it to cause as much trouble as the Marauders did, all right?" she asked with a smile. "I don't want to get too many letters about your behavior, Harry."

"I won't, Aunt Ria," said Harry. "Or at least, I'll make sure not to get caught at it."

"I suppose that will do," said Ria. "Just don't land yourself in detention once a week like your father and Sirius did. Please be more like your mother and Remus, who were better behaved."

Remus brought a pitcher of milk and one of orange juice to the table, and Sirius brought over a platter of scrambled eggs. Harry moved his pile of gifts to one side and they all began eating.

After breakfast, Harry put his gifts away, and then the Grangers came over. Mr. and Mrs. Granger gave him their present, which was the complete works of William Shakespeare. He thanked them and then looked over at Hermione, who said, "Neville has your gift. We all chipped in."

"Ah," said Harry in understanding. The group went to the living room and used the Floo Network to get to the Leaky Cauldron, where Hagrid and the Longbottoms were waiting for them. The Weasleys and Susan with her Aunt Amelia arrived shortly after that. They all wished Harry and Neville a happy birthday, even though Neville had a small party for his birthday yesterday.

Hagrid presented Harry and Neville with his gifts, a beautiful snowy owl for Harry and a handsome barn owl for Neville. "Looks like we don't need to get you an owl after all, Harry," said Sirius. "Ria and I were going to let you pick out an owl today as an additional present, but Hagrid beat us to it."

"Thanks, Hagrid," said Neville. "But now I'm in something of a bind. Great-Uncle Algie gave me a toad for my birthday yesterday, and I can't take two pets to Hogwarts. So which one do I take with me?"

"How's this, Neville? You take the toad to Hogwarts to please your great-uncle, and you use the owl to send mail, but officially it stays at your home," Hermione suggested.

"That's a great idea," said Neville in relief. "I'll have to think of a suitable name for the owl, now."

The group set off for Gringotts. Hagrid also was on an errand for Professor Dumbledore, which was fetching something from one of the extra security vaults. Of course, Hagrid couldn't actually reveal what the item was, and none of the others pressed him for details, though they were curious.

The Grangers exchanged their pounds for Galleons at the exchange counter, while the others went down to their vaults. Harry got to see the vault that his parents had left him for the first time, and he was allowed to take out some coins for his own spending money. However, Ria and Sirius were paying for his school supplies, and they withdrew money from the joint account they had set up.

Since this trip was a birthday treat for Harry and Neville, Ron and Ginny were allowed to stay with the group while the rest of their family went off to do their own shopping. Percy had been appointed one of Gryffindor's prefects that year, and he looked inordinately proud as he strode off.

The first stop was Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Ron wasn't going to be buying robes there, however, as he was going to be wearing hand-me-downs, specifically Bill's old ones. None of the others commented at this, though Harry suspected that Sirius would have immediately bought Ron a set of school robes if the Weasleys wouldn't have objected to it, seeing it as charity. At least they weren't quite as poor as they could have been, since Mrs. Weasley got paid for acting as a tutor to Harry's group of friends, and before that, as a baby-sitter/nanny.

Unfortunately, when Harry was getting measured for his robes, he had to stand next to a blond boy with a pale, pointed face, who was rather haughty and was likely a Malfoy.

"Hello," said the boy, who had a bored, drawling voice. "Hogwarts too?" Harry nodded.

"My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy.

"The wand chooses the wizard," Harry pointed out. "So unless she's getting a new one for herself, why would she be looking at them when you're the one that has to find the suitable wand?"

The other boy's face turned slightly pink before he replied, "Yes, but there's no harm in looking, is there? Anyway, I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms when I'm done here. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow. Have _you_ got your own broom?" His tone of voice implied he thought the answer was 'no'.

Thought Harry was not one to brag, the other boy annoyed him so much that instead of just saying a simple 'yes', he said sweetly, "In fact, my godfather got me a Nimbus Two Thousand for my birthday, to replace the Comet Two Sixty I had originally. I'm very good at Quidditch and flying in general, and I plan on trying out for my House team next year, probably as a Chaser or Seeker."

A disgruntled look crossed the boy's face and then he said, "I play Quidditch too. Father says it'll be a crime if I'm not picked to play for my House, and I must say, I agree. Know what House you'll be in?"

"No," responded Harry shortly, not wishing to reveal his desire to be in Hufflepuff at the moment.

"Well, nobody really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"My Aunt Ria was in Hufflepuff," Harry said coldly. "She's an excellent Healer and is skilled at Warding. And one of my friends, Susan Bones, well, her family was also in Hufflepuff, one of them being her Aunt Amelia, the Head of the DMLE. So was Bridget Wenlock, the famous Arithmancer."

The other boy looked taken aback. "Oh sorry," he apologized, but he didn't sound sincere at all. "I didn't mean to insult Hufflepuff. And Bridget Wenlock was in Ravenclaw."

"Don't you read at all?" Harry asked scathingly. "If you'd picked up a biography on her, you'd know what house she was in Sorted in. I did, and I know for a fact that she was in Hufflepuff."

"I have better things to do than read biographies about useless Hufflepuffs," the boy snapped.

"That's a pity," said Harry. "You should read more. Think of all that knowledge you'll miss out on."

"I think I know what House you'll be in," said the boy. "You'll be one of the bookworm Ravenclaws." From the way he said 'bookworm', he made it sound like it was some horrible insult.

"Actually, I plan on being in Hufflepuff," said Harry smugly. "It's a much better house than Slytherin."

The other boy's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to retort, but before he could say anything, Madam Malkin said to Harry, "That's you done, my dear." Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy (who definitely must be a Malfoy if his family had all been in Slytherin), hopped down from the footstool and walked away, making a face of disgust and annoyance.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Sirius, spotting the annoyed and disgusted look.

"I had a conversation with a boy that I think is Draco Malfoy," answered Harry. "He had the blond hair and said that all his family had been in Slytherin. Anyway, he was annoying and insulted Hufflepuff."

Sirius scowled, then said, "Well, since you were the last one to get your robes done, how about I get you and your friends some ice cream to cheer you up, Harry?"

"That's a great idea," said Harry, and the group went across the street to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, where Sirius bought them all large ice cream cones.

Once they were done eating, they went to Flourish and Blotts for the school books. Hermione looked delighted at the bookstore, and bought six extra books, one of which was _Hogwarts, a History_ , even though she had read the copy that Ria owned. Ron had to buy his books secondhand, and he would have looked rather awkward about it if his friendships hadn't surpassed such things long ago.

The Apothecary proved to be fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbage. Harry had some interest in Potions, partly due to Professor Snape, partly to the fact that his own mother had been good at Potions, and partly because Aunt Ria often had to brew healing potions as part of her job as a Healer. He examined the ingredients for sale, though he didn't actually have to buy any, thanks to the well-stocked Potions kit that Professor Snape had given him.

After buying parchment, quills, ink, cauldrons, scales, and telescopes, the group went to Ollivander's Wand Shop for wands. Mr. Ollivander, who was an old man with wide, pale silvery eyes, greeted the group, and recounted the wands of the adult witches and wizards present, including Hagrid, whose wand had been snapped when he'd been expelled from Hogwarts. He also mentioned the wands of Harry's parents. He then asked Harry and his friends what their wand arms were (they were all right-handed), and while a measuring tape took their measurements, brought down boxes of wands.

None of the first dozen or so wands Harry tried were the right suit, and his friends ended up trying out the discarded wands to save time. After about thirty wands, one of vine wood, ten and three-quarter inches, with dragon heartstring core, chose Hermione. Ten wands after that, a willow wand, fourteen inches, with unicorn hair core chose Ron, and a cherry wand, thirteen inches, unicorn hair core chose Neville. Twenty wands later, a cedar wand, ten inches, with dragon heartstring core chose Susan.

Poor Harry, on the other hand, ended up trying just about every wand in the store, other than the old one displayed in the window, before one chose him. It was holly, eleven inches, with a phoenix feather core. In fact, the phoenix that gave the feather also gave one for another wand, which was the one that Voldemort owned. Harry looked a bit disturbed to find out that the two wands were brothers, but then dismissed it from his mind, for he couldn't help the relation between the wands any more than he could help being related to his Muggle aunt and cousin.

After paying for the wands, the group returned to the Leaky Cauldron, where they met up with the rest of the Weasley family for lunch in private room. When they were done eating, Ria left the room and returned a couple of minutes later with a cake that was made to resemble a Quidditch pitch, complete with peppermint goal hoops and miniature Quidditch balls made out of marzipan and glazed with treacle. After everyone admired the cake, they sang 'Happy Birthday', and then Harry cut out slices for them all to enjoy. The cake itself was a marble one of both chocolate and vanilla.

When they finished the cake, Harry opened the rest of his gifts. His friends had gotten together and bought him a Broomstick Servicing Kit, along with a book on Quidditch maneuvers and general flying tips and a pair of Quidditch gloves. He raised a brow, since he had been gifted with a kit and gloves the same time he'd gotten his Comet Two Sixty. Of course, the gloves were too small for him now, and he'd used up most of the stuff in the kit, but getting replacements was still unusual.

"Did Uncle Sirius tell you he was giving me a new broom?" Harry demanded of his friends.

They all nodded. "That's why we got you all this," said Susan. "Besides, your old Quidditch gloves are too small for you now, and we figured you could use a new kit."

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him some nut brittle and a yellow and black striped scarf, and Ginny gave him a matching hat. Since Luna hadn't been able to come, she had sent her gift with Ginny, which was a nice non-magical painting of Harry and his friends flying on their brooms. Fred and George gifted a box of prank items, and Percy's present was a book on Charms (another interest of Harry's). Madam Bones gave Harry a box of sweets and some supplies for his new owl, and Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom's present was set of stationery in a wooden box that doubled as a small writing and lap desk.

"So what are you going to tell Professor Dumbledore when he asks you about how shopping trip went, Hagrid?" Harry asked once he put all his gifts in his bag with an Undetectable Extension Charm on it.

"It'll be the complete truth, minus a few details," Hagrid replied, a twinkle in his eye. "I'll say I went ter collect yeh from your aunt and uncle. We went ter Diagon Alley, an' the Weasleys an' Longbottoms were there, because they wanted ter spend time with yeh. Sirius an' Remus were there too, since Dumbledore said they could visit yeh once yeh got yer Hogwarts letter. The shopping trip went well, an' after that, we all had lunch at the Leaky Cauldron ter celebrate yer birthday, Harry."

Harry grinned, because as Hagrid said, it was the truth, just not all of it. Also, if Dumbledore assumed that the aunt and uncle mentioned was Harry's biological ones and not Sirius and Ria, well, that wasn't his problem. "It'd probably be safe to mention Hermione and Susan too. You can say that Susan is friends with Ron and Neville, and Hermione is a Muggleborn girl that Neville befriended because they happened to live in the same town, so they had come along on the shopping trip."

"I'll tell Professor Dumbledore that," said Hagrid with a nod. "That should interest him."

The large group of people sat around for a few minutes to discuss their morning, and after that, gathered up their things and prepared to leave.


	7. Chapter 7

September the first arrived and it was time to leave for Hogwarts. After breakfast, Harry made sure that he had packed everything in his trunk and with Sirius's help, loaded it into the boot of Ria's car. They then set off for London, and arrived at King's Cross Station at half past ten. Ria parked the car, and Remus found a trolley for the trunk. As they walked into the crowded station, they bumped into the Longbottoms, who had arrived at around the same time.

Harry exchanged excited grins with Neville and the two walked together as they headed for the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. They had just gotten close when they heard Hermione's voice. "Oh, hi, Hermione," said Harry, turning around and smiling at her. "And hello, Mr. and Mrs. Granger."

Since Muggles could get onto Platform Nine and Three-Quarters if they were holding on to a witch or wizard, Ria and Mrs. Longbottom volunteered to bring Hermione's parents over. After making sure no other Muggles were paying attention, Neville ran through the barrier. Harry and Hermione followed a few seconds later, and after that came the adults. Mr. and Mrs. Granger gazed around in wonder.

"Hey guys, over here!" The three families turned around to see Susan waving from somewhere near the end of the Hogwarts Express, with her aunt standing next to her.

Harry, Hermione, and Neville hurried over to their friend. "Hello everyone," said Susan, beaming. "I've saved the last compartment in the final carriage for us to sit in. Come on."

With the help of their parents, the three of them got their heavy trunks loaded on the luggage racks. Harry set down the cage containing his owl, which he had named Hedwig, and Neville set down the glass cage containing his toad, named Trevor, since his pet would try to escape otherwise. While this was going on, the Weasleys arrived, with Percy striding off to join the other prefects, Fred and George looking for their friends, and Ron joining his friends in putting his trunk away.

After that, Harry left the compartment to bid his guardians good-bye. "I know you'll have a great time at Hogwarts, Harry," said Ria, smiling down at him. "Do well in school and take time to enjoy life."

"Make sure you write to us at least once a week," added Sirius. "I want to know everything you and your friends get up to. Don't do anything that I or the Marauders wouldn't do."

Remus gave him a look, then said, "Harry, and please make sure you don't do most of the stuff the Marauders did. Sure, have fun and all, but follow more in your mother's footsteps than your father's."

"Don't worry, Remus," said Harry. "I have no problems with a few harmless pranks that make people laugh, but I'm not going to cause havoc or be a bully. I'll miss you all, though."

"We'll miss you too," said Ria. "But don't worry, it'll be the Christmas holidays before you know it and you'll see us again." She hugged Harry tightly, and then Remus and Sirius hugged him too.

"Oh here," said Remus, handing Harry a basket. "We know that you'll be buying snacks from the food trolley, but we still packed you a couple of sandwiches and some treacle tart. The sandwiches will be healthier than sweets, and the food trolley doesn't sell treacle tart."

"Thanks," Harry said, taking the basket. Treacle tart was his favorite dessert, so it was appreciated.

The whistle blew and after another round of hugs, he boarded the train. A couple of minutes later, it started moving, and he leaned forward slightly to wave to his guardians. He noticed Ginny running after the train, half-laughing, half-crying, until it drew too much speed and she fell back, waving.

Once the Hogwarts Express rounded a bend and the platform couldn't be seen anymore, Harry and the basket went inside the compartment. He had been too excited earlier to eat much breakfast, but now that some it had worn off, he found that he was feeling a bit peckish. He took out a sandwich, which was turkey with lettuce, tomato, and cheese, and began eating.

"Are you hungry already?" asked Hermione incredulously. "It's not even noon yet."

Harry swallowed and responded, "Sorry, I was too excited earlier to eat much breakfast."

When he was done with the sandwich, the five of them began talking. Now that they were on their way to Hogwarts, they were feeling a bit nervous in addition to being excited. While they knew how they were to be Sorted, Ria having told them, they were worried that the Sorting Hat might not think they were suited for Hufflepuff. Sirius had told them that the Hat did take one's choice into account, as it had argued with him for four minutes before finally agreeing to put him in Gryffindor, and it had done the same for the traitor Wormtail, who was an actual Hatstall, but they still had doubts. However, they had also all decided that if all of them didn't end up in Hufflepuff, they would do their best to be Sorted among all four houses, for inter-house unity purposes.

"I don't fancy being in Slytherin, though," said Ron, making a face. "But I'll do it for our friendship and because Neville and I are the best candidates among us to be in Slytherin, since we're purebloods."

"Let's hope it doesn't happen," Susan said. "Slytherin would be a great house if You-Know-Who hadn't given it such a bad reputation, and most of the students there didn't focus on pureblood supremacy."

Harry shrugged. "There's not much we can do about it, though." The others sighed, and then they changed the subject to discuss the subjects they'd be studying at Hogwarts.

At half past twelve, the witch with the food trolley came by. Ron had some sandwiches that his mother had packed for him, but he still took out a few Knuts from the pocket money he had. The five of them pooled their money, and went out into the corridor. They ended up buying some of everything, and after spending eleven Sickles and seven Knuts, tipped all the food onto an empty seat.

Hermione, who being the daughter of dentists didn't normally eat much in the way of sweets, ate Harry's other sandwich (which was roast beef), followed by two Pumpkin Pasties and a Cauldron Cake. She then settled back to nibble on a Licorice Wand and some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. She did accept a small slice of the treacle tart that Harry shared out, and later on, had three Chocolate Frogs.

Harry, who hadn't touched his new chess set so far, decided to break it in with a game against Ron. Of course, Ron was brilliant at chess, so despite help from the others, Harry ended up losing.

"I think all your advice is what caused me to lose," said Harry, laughing, at the conclusion of the match. "Or at least, made me lose so badly, since I bet I would have lost anyway."

"I'll play you, Harry," Susan suggested. "I'm even worse than you at chess, so you'll win this one."

Harry agreed to it and Susan took out her chess pieces. Though she put up a good fight, as she said, Harry did end up winning, checkmating her king with a rook, knight, and bishop.

The two were putting their chess sets away when the door to their compartment slid open. Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the one in the middle as the boy that was probably Draco Malfoy. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.

"Is it true?" he asked. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," Harry said shortly, looking at the other two boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.

"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

Ron turned red at this. Harry's eyes narrowed, and then he said in a falsely polite and cheerful tone, "Oh, it is a great pleasure to be properly introduced to you, Malfoy Draco Malfoy."

Ron and Neville sniggered at this deliberate misunderstanding of Malfoy's name, and Hermione and Susan stifled giggles. Meanwhile, Malfoy turned pink and opened his mouth to make a correction, but shut it with a snap as he realized that Harry had done it on purpose to poke fun. After a moment, Malfoy got under control and glanced at the other four. "Besides a Weasley, you're sitting with the Bones girls and a Longbottom, but who's the other girl?"

"I'm Hermione Granger," said Hermione.

"Any relation to Hector Dagworth-Granger, the famous potioneer?" Malfoy asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so. I'm Muggleborn."

"Oh," said Malfoy with a sneer. "Then you're not worth my time. Anyway, Potter, you'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.

"Perhaps you've forgotten that I mentioned my godfather during our first meeting," he said. "Uncle Sirius, along with Uncle Remus, who was friends with my parents, taught me all about the wizarding world. So did Aunt Ria, who is friends with them and acts like a surrogate mother. Thanks to them, I already made a group of friends, and insulting them isn't going to make me become your friend."

Malfoy's cheeks turned pink again. "I'd be careful if I were you, Potter. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys, Longbottoms, and mudbloods, and it'll rub off on you."

"Don't you dare refer to Hermione with that word!" Ron shouted angrily, while Susan raised a hand like she wanted to slap Malfoy and Neville pulled out his wand.

Harry stood up, a look of fury on his face. "You're one to talk about being polite, Malfoy. So far, you've insulted Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, my friends, and my parents, and you've been rude to me. Oh, and Uncle Sirius told me about the Crabbe and Goyle families. He said that due to too much inbreeding, they're not very intelligent. So maybe you should be worried that their stupidity will rub off on you if you hang around them too much. Now, I suggest you and your goons leave now, Malfoy, before Ron punches you, Susan gives you a good slap in the face, and Neville and I hex you."

Malfoy glared, but seeing that he was outnumbered, resentfully stalked out the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle following him. Once they were gone, Hermione slid shut the door and asked, "What did you mean about not having him refer to me 'with that word', Ron? I think it was 'mudbloods'?"

Ron, looking grim, explained, "It's a really foul word to call Muggleborns. It's pretty much saying that you've got dirty blood because you've got Muggle parents."

"But why haven't I heard the word before? You guys told me all about the wizarding world but that."

"Hermione, that's not a word you use in polite company," Susan pointed out. "Do you think the rest of us would ever call you that? No matter how angry we got at you, we would never insult you like that."

"Yes, but you could have at least mentioned it in the context of pureblood supremacy," said Hermione. "I've read about the war against Voldemort, and you've all warned me about the racist purebloods."

"Sorry, it just never crossed our minds," said Neville. "We would never dream of calling you the 'm-word', so it didn't occur to us to someone like Malfoy would insult you like that, especially not now."

Harry sighed. "I probably shouldn't have said what I did about Crabbe and Goyle, even if Draco Malfoy was extremely rude and what Uncle Sirius said about them was the complete truth."

"They deserved it for choosing to hang around Malfoy," Ron said. "I wouldn't worry too much about it, Harry. It was funny when you pretended to take Malfoy's name as 'Malfoy Draco Malfoy'."

"He insulted your family, so I decided to have a bit of fun at his expense," said Harry with a shrug. He looked out the window and added, "I think we're almost there, since it's getting dark now."

"You're right," said Susan. They dug their school robes out from their trunks and then the three boys stepped out into the corridor for a few minutes so that the two girls could don their robes. When they were done, the girls left the compartment and the boys went inside to put on their robes. Ron's were a bit short on him, you could see his trainers underneath them.

When the girls returned to the compartment, the train began slowing down, and a minute later, a voice echoed throughout the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

The five of them looked rather nervous as they crammed their pockets with the leftover sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. Hermione appeared to be muttering underneath her breath, and Ron's face was pale under his freckles. Neville was trembling slightly.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. He greeted the quintet as they came over, and then said, "C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend."

There was a loud "Oooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. The quintet split up, with Harry, Ron, and Neville getting into a boat with a curly, brown-haired boy that was gazing around in awe and Susan and Hermione getting into another with a girl with blonde pigtails and a skinny blond boy with an upturned nose.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then – FORWARD!"

And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

They clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. "Everyone here?" Hagrid asked.

With that, he raised a gigantic first and knocked three times on the castle door.

The door swung open at once. Professor McGonagall, wearing emerald-green robes, stood there. Her face was stern instead of smiling, and she gave off the aura of someone not to cross.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid, giving a slight bow.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door open wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of Ria's house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right – the rest of the school must already be here – but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering around nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room. The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever House becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her eyes lingered to a moment on Neville's cloak, which had shifted so that it was now fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

She left the chamber. The other first years looked terrified, and Harry felt rather anxious himself. Not that he had anything against the other Houses, but he really wanted to be in Hufflepuff. He nervously bit his lip and looked at the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back.

The something happened that made him jump – several people behind him screamed. "What the –?"

He gasped, and so did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and translucent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. As Harry calmed down, he noted that they were arguing about Peeves the Poltergeist, with what looked to be the Hufflepuff ghost all for giving Peeves a second chance.

A ghost wearing a ruff and tights, who was arguing against it, suddenly noticed the first years.

"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old House, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start," Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line," she told the first years, "and follow me."

Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind Susan and Neville, with Ron and Hermione behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

Though Harry had heard descriptions and had skimmed through _Hogwarts, a History_ once, he was still awed by the large hall. He glanced up at the ceiling, which he knew was bewitched to look like the sky outside, and saw it was velvety black and dotted with stars.

Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put the Sorting Hat, which was a pointed wizard's hat that was very old, being patched and frayed and extremely dirty.

For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing.

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Several of the first years looked very relieved.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be Sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

The girl that had been in Susan and Hermione's boat stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause – "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

Susan was called up next, and her friends all crossed their fingers as she sat down on the stool and put on the Sorting Hat. "HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted again, and Susan scuttled off to sit near Hannah.

'Boot, Terry' was Sorted into Ravenclaw, and the table second from the left clapped this time. Several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw, too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the fat left exploded with cheers; Harry could see Fred and George cat-calling.

"Bulstrode, Millicent", a big girl built along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle, then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, but he thought most of them looked like an unpleasant lot.

He was starting to feel rather queasy now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at primary school. He had always been among the last to be chosen (with his friends), not because he was no good, but because nobody really liked him after he'd befriended Hermione.

Finch-Fletchley, Justin, who was the curly-haired boy, was Sorted into Hufflepuff. "Finnigan, Seamus", who was the sandy-haired boy next to Neville in the line, ended up sitting on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.

Hermione was next and she almost ran to the stool and eagerly jammed the hat on her head. It took four minutes, with her apparently silently arguing with it, before it finally put her in Hufflepuff.

A few names later, it was Neville's turn, and he tripped on his way to the stool in his nervousness. The Hat took a long time to decide as well, taking almost five minutes before declaring him a Hufflepuff. Harry glanced at the staff table and thought he saw Professor Dumbledore look surprised.

Draco Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.

There weren't many people left now. Lillian Moon was Sorted in Hufflepuff, Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson in Slytherin, Padma Patil in Ravenclaw, and her twin Parvati in Gryffindor.

After Sally-Anne Perks, at last Harry's name was called. As he stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. " _Potter_ , did she say?" " _The_ Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes – and a willingness to work hard for what you want and a deep loyalty to your friends. You also have a strong desire to stand up for what is right and good. This means that you could fit in either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. So which one shall I put you in?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, _Not Gryffindor. I want to be in Hufflepuff._

"Not Gryffindor, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You have the courage, and the desire to stand up for what is right would fit Gryffindor just as well as Hufflepuff."

 _I'm sure_ , Harry thought firmly. _I want to be in Hufflepuff with my friends, and work hard on proving that it isn't the 'leftover house' and being Sorted there is something to be proud of._

"That is a very admirable goal. Well, if you're sure then – better be HUFFLEPUFF!"

Harry heard the Sorting Hat shout the last word to the whole hall. There was a few seconds of shocked silence, during which he took off the hat, and then the Hufflepuff table burst into thunderous applause and cheers, the loudest yet out of everyone that had been Sorted so far. As he made his way to the table, a couple of Hufflepuffs shouted, "We got Potter!", and when he reached the table, an older boy with the badge of a prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously. Several others followed suit.

Harry glanced at the staff table. Professor Dumbledore looked thunderstruck, though he soon hid it, a witch that Harry thought was Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff, looked extremely pleased and proud, and Hagrid grinned and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back.

There were five people left to be Sorted. Zacharias Smith, the blond boy with upturned nose joined Harry in Hufflepuff, and Dean Thomas, a black boy even taller than Ron was Sorted into Gryffindor. Lisa Turpin became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. His friends gripped hands and waited the six minutes before he was finally declared a Hufflepuff. At one point, four minutes in, the Hat started to shout, "GRY-", but was interrupted by Ron's "NO!"

Though the Hufflepuff table clapped loudly, many people at the other House tables looked confused or shocked that a Weasley had been Sorted into a House other than Gryffindor. Professor Dumbledore looked thunderstruck again, before it was replaced with a look of acceptance.

"I can't believe you were a Hatstall," Harry whispered as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.

"The Sorting Hat kept saying that I should be a Gryffindor," Ron said as Blaise Zabini was made a Slytherin. "It even tried to Sort me there, but I wouldn't let it, and had to argue for a long time."

Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away. Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing would have pleased him more than to see them all there. "Welcome!" he said cheerfully. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down and everybody clapped and cheered.

Harry's mouth fell open as he looked at the table. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.

He quickly piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious, and as he was now quite hungry, he enjoyed the food immensely.

The Fat Friar drifted over and said, "It is a great honor to welcome you to Hufflepuff, Harry Potter. I never expected that you would be Sorted here."

Harry swallowed his bite of steak and answered, "I wanted to be Sorted here. The Sorting Hat did say that I could fit in both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and I told it that I wanted to be in Hufflepuff."

"Really?" asked a boy that looked to be a third or fourth year. "Not very many people actually want to be Sorted here, since they see it as the 'loser' or 'leftover' house. I'm Cedric Diggory, by the way."

"I think Hufflepuff is a great house," said Harry. "I know my parents were in Gryffindor, but I didn't want to be a part of the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Also, while Gryffindor is known for bravery, that can turn into foolhardiness. I'd rather be in a house known for loyalty, hard work, and fair play, and show that becoming a Badger is something to be proud of. My friends agreed with me."

"I thought you grew up with your Muggle aunt and uncle," one of the girl prefects said.

"I have a godfather, you know," Harry pointed out. "Sirius Black? He told me all about the wizarding world. So did Uncle Remus, who was friends with my parents, and Aunt Ria, who fought on their side during the war, and is friends with Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius. They were the ones that introduced me to some wizarding children, and I became friends with them."

Ron added, "Aunt Ria would have been my actual aunt, since she was engaged to my Uncle Gideon, but he was killed in the war before they could marry. She introduced my family to Harry."

Neville interjected, "My parents were friends with the Potters, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Remus, and my birthday is the day before Harry's, so that's why I became his friend too."

"And in my case," said Susan, "my Aunt Amelia is best friends with Aunt Ria. They were in Hufflepuff. As for Hermione Granger, she lives in the same town as Neville, and when we met her and found out that she could do magic, we told her about the wizarding world and she became our friend."

"So you're Muggleborn then, Hermione?" asked Justin Finch-Fletchley. "I'm Muggleborn too. My name was originally put down for Eton, but then Professor McGonagall showed up with my Hogwarts letter."

Based on the last name, and the fact that his name had been put down for Eton, a prestigious Muggle boarding school, Harry suspected that Justin's parents were either nobles or squires.

Neville leaned over and asked, "What exactly happened during your Sorting, Ron? I had to argue with the Hat before it would put me in Hufflepuff instead of Gryffindor, but it didn't almost Sort me into a different house, or take so long that I became a Hatstall, though I was almost one."

"The Sorting Hat was being especially difficult with me, I guess," Ron replied. "It kept insisting that Weasleys belonged in Gryffindor, even though it acknowledged I had some Hufflepuff qualities."

"In my case, the Sorting Hat said that I had both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tendencies in addition to the Hufflepuff ones," said Hermione. "It had difficulty deciding until I told I wanted to be a Hufflepuff."

"Well, I'm sure you'll be fine additions to Hufflepuff House," said one of the boy prefects. "I'm Gabriel Truman. Feel free to come to me or the other prefects if you have any questions."

Hermione immediately began asking Gabriel some questions about Hufflepuff, and what the classes would be like. Meanwhile, Susan struck up a conversation with Hannah Abbott, Lilian Moon, and Sally-Anne Perks, while Harry, Ron, and Neville spoke with Justin and another first-year boy named Ernie Macmillian. Initially they included Zacharias Smith in the conversation, but he turned out to be rather reminiscent of Malfoy, minus the prejudice against those that weren't pureblood. In fact, Smith started bragging about his family being descended from Helga Hufflepuff herself, and how they had owned her special cup until it had mysteriously vanished at the time of the death of his great-great-aunt.

Harry rolled his eyes, and after several minutes, said, "I think that's enough, Zacharias. It's nice to be descended from one of the Founders, but you don't need to go on and on about it. You don't see me bragging about how I defeated the Dark Lord or how famous I am."

Smith flushed, and Justin asked, "You defeated You-Know-Who, Harry? I read about him in one of the books Professor McGonagall suggested I get for background reading on the wizarding world, but it didn't explain your connection to him other than that he tried to kill you but failed."

Harry sighed. "Well, it was more due to my mother than me. Voldemort was after my entire family, but he especially wanted to kill me, since I could grow up to defeat him. From what my godfather told me, my mother's sacrifice invoked some sort of ancient magic that protected me, and that's why the Killing Curse didn't work on me. It instead bounced off me and hit Voldemort, and he died. Or at least had his body destroyed, and his disembodied spirit is somewhere out there hoping to regain power."

Justin shuddered, and Ernie asked, "What do you mean, Harry, 'grow up to defeat him'?"

Since Harry wasn't about to tell people he just met about the prophecy, he simply said, "From what Uncle Sirius told me, there apparently was a rumor about someone being born that could defeat the Dark Lord. I guess he heard about it and decided to kill off the ones that he thought could defeat him one day. I must have been first on the list, unless he killed anyone else I don't know about."

By the time everyone had enough of the main course and the leftover food disappeared to be replaced by the desserts, the quintet found themselves on good terms with their dormmates, except for Smith. He still came across as rather haughty, and looked put out that Harry had called him out for bragging and that the other first years were now pretty much ignoring him.

Harry was delighted to see that treacle tart was among the desserts, and helped himself to one, along with some strawberry ice cream and a small serving of pudding. As he ate, he looked up at the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet, while Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Snape was talking to a teacher who was wearing a large purple turban, and Harry realized that he had seen the man at the Leaky Cauldron the morning of the school supplies shopping trip, though he hadn't been wearing a turban then.

It happened very suddenly. Both Professor Snape and the teacher in the turban glanced up and looked straight into Harry's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head. Neville shot him a look of concern.

"What is it?" asked Gabriel, who was sitting across from them and had heard Harry.

"N-nothing, I just thought I was going to have a headache." The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. While Professor Snape had given Harry a tiny nod of acknowledgement (he couldn't do anything more without compromising his position as a spy for Dumbledore), the other teacher had, for one brief second, looked full of loathing, before it was replaced by a look of nervousness.

"Who's the teacher that's talking to Professor Snape, Gabriel?" Harry asked.

"Oh, you know Professor Snape already? Well, the teacher talking to him is Professor Quirrell. He used to be the Muggle Studies teacher, but he took last year off to gain practical experience and is now the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. I hope he'll be as good as the Defense teacher last year."

Zacharias then broke in to ask how Harry knew Professor Snape already. "I met him in Diagon Alley once," Harry responded, which was quite true, since they had ran into each other the one time he had visited the street before getting his Hogwarts letter. "Also, my parents went to school with him."

Ron frowned and whispered, "Zacharias is really nosy, isn't he? It's getting annoying."

"We'll just have to put up with him," Harry whispered back. "At least Ernie and Justin are nice."

At last, the desserts disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did. "He's not serious?" he muttered to Gabriel.

"I think he is," said Gabriel, frowning at Dumbledore. "But he normally gives a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere. Well, whatever it is, he hasn't told us prefects."

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Professor Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

Everyone finished the song at different times. At last, only Fred and George were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest. "Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Gabriel called all the Hufflepuff first years to him and led the way out of the Great Hall. He led them to a set of stairs at the end of the corridor and they descended into the basement area. As they walked, he named several famous people that had been in Hufflepuff, adding that they had the fewest Dark wizards, and pointed out the school kitchens, with the entrance in a painting of a bowl of fruit.

Past the kitchens was a pile of large barrels stacked in shadowy stone recess on the right hand-side of the corridor. "This is the entrance to our common room," Gabriel said. "You have to tap the barrel two from the bottom, in the middle of the second row, in the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff'. We're also the only house that has a security device to repel those not in our house. If the wrong barrel is tapped, or there's an incorrect number of taps, one of the other barrels will drench the person in vinegar."

He proceeded to tap the correct barrel five times, and the lid flipped open. He crawled in through it, and the first years followed. The sloping, earthy passage inside the barrel traveled slightly upwards until it came out a cozy, round, low-ceilinged room, reminiscent of a cross between a badger's sett and a hobbit-hole. Hufflepuff's colors of yellow and black decorated the room, and there were many plants and flowers scattered around the room or hanging in plant holders from the ceiling.

A fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace. Above the wooden mantelpiece, which was carved all over with decorative dancing badgers, hung a portrait of Helga Hufflepuff, toasting her students with a two-handled golden cup. Around the top of the walls were several small, round windows. It was too dark to see clearly outside, but Harry thought they were level with the ground outside. The tables were all made of a honey-colored wood, and same was true of two round doors at one side of the room.

"The door there leads to the boys' dormitories, and the other one leads to the girls'," said Gabriel. "You'll find your dorm rooms to be very comfortable. Oh, and you each have a copper bed warmer, hanging on the wall, for when it gets chilly at night. Professor Sprout is our Head of House, and also the Herbology teacher, which explains the plants decorating the room. She is cheerful, easy to talk to, and very helpful." He recounted a time when he had gotten into a duel with a Ravenclaw who claimed that Bridget Wenlock had been in Ravenclaw, not Hufflepuff. Gabriel felt that he should have gotten a week's detention for it, but Professor Sprout let him off with a warning and a box of coconut ice.

Finally he ended his speech with, "Anyway, I hope you all have a good night. And congratulations on becoming a member of the friendliest, most decent, and most tenacious house of them all."

Harry, Ron, and Neville bid Hermione and Susan a good night and then they separated to their dorms. In the first year boys' dorm, there were six four-poster beds, each covered with a cheerful patchwork quilt, a nightstand, made of the same honey-colored wood, beside each bed, and six wardrobes. As Gabriel said, a copper bed warmer hung on the wall next to each bed, and their respective trunks were at the foot of the beds. Harry found his and extracted his pajamas and bag of toiletries.

In the bathroom at the end of the corridor, he brushed his teeth and washed up, and then returned to his dorm where he changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed. He had planned on talking a bit more with Ron and Neville, but the three of them were all so tired that they simply bid each other good night. After a few minutes, Harry fell asleep, thinking how great it was to be in Hufflepuff.

Perhaps he had eaten a bit too much, because he ended up having a strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Gryffindor at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Gryffindor; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully – and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it – then Malfoy turned into Quirrell, whose laugh became high and cold – there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.

He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note: Draco Malfoy has met Susan and Neville before, which is why he recognized them on the Hogwarts Express. As Susan's aunt and Neville's father both work in the Ministry and Draco's parents are friendly with Minister Fudge, they met at a Ministry function. As for the defense of Hufflepuff in the previous chapters and this one, I will admit that I was inspired by the song "Sorted This Way" (a parody of "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga) from Not Literally Productions, which is all about celebrating Hufflepuff and Badger pride. A final note, I wrote all the previous chapters (plus half of this one) over the past couple of weeks. Today I edited what I wrote (and completed this chapter), and decided to post it all. Since I do have other things in my life, plus a couple of other fics I'm writing, future chapters will not be up as quickly as the ones I've posted today.

Professor Dumbledore sat in his office, deep in thought. He hadn't been expecting that Harry Potter would be Sorted into Hufflepuff, though it wasn't a disaster. It certainly had a much better reputation than Slytherin, and being in Hufflepuff would cause others to underestimate Harry. Also, Neville and Ron, the latter being a Hatstall of all things, were with him in the same House.

Dumbledore wondered how Harry Potter and his presumed friends being in Hufflepuff would change things, though. Well, Susan Bones being in Hufflepuff was expected, since her family normally went there. However, the Weasleys and Longbottoms were usually Gryffindors, and from what Professor McGonagall had said about Hermione Granger, the girl had appeared to be a better candidate for Ravenclaw, or possibly Gryffindor. Then again, pretty much everyone had expected that Sirius Black would end up in Slytherin like the rest of his family, but he had been Sorted into Gryffindor instead.

Professor Dumbledore sighed deeply. His intentions had been for Harry to be Sorted into Gryffindor, and eventually be guided to his destiny of defeating Voldemort. Of course, being in Hufflepuff wouldn't prevent that from happening, but it looked as if Dumbledore would have to revise his plans. Perhaps it would be best if he just let things play out on their own for the time being, and not get involved in Harry's life unless absolutely necessary. He really didn't want to fall back into his old habits when he'd been friends with Gellert Grindelwald, meddling in people's lives for the 'Greater Good', even if it was with the best of intentions. Certainly Dumbledore did have to control things somewhat, due to his various positions as well as the leader of the Order of the Phoenix in the war against Voldemort, but manipulating everyone he came into contact with just led down to a slippery path of becoming the well-intentioned extremist.

With that thought, Professor Dumbledore resolved to just keep an eye on Harry and his friends and not get involved in their lives other than what was necessary in his role as Headmaster, at least for the first couple of years. Once Harry got older, he could step in to explain further about the situation with Voldemort, and if the Dark Lord ever returned to power, see to it that Harry got some training and the necessary information to defeat him. Feeling satisfied with that, Dumbledore got up from his desk and headed to his bedroom to get some sleep.

* * *

In the morning, Harry got up and dressed, smiling as he noted that his robes had the Hufflepuff crest on them. Since everyone else wasn't awake yet, he took the opportunity to write a letter to Sirius, Ria, and Remus, letting them know that he and his friends were in Hufflepuff. After that, he got ready for the day, and returned to the dorm room to find that Ron and Neville had just woken up and finishing getting dressed. The rest of their dormmates were still asleep, but not for long, as Harry woke them up so that they wouldn't end up oversleeping. Ron and Neville went to the bathroom to brush their teeth and wash up, and when they returned, joined Harry as he picked up his letter and headed to the common room.

Gabriel happened to be there, watering one of the potted plants, and when the three first-years entered, gave them a cheerful 'good-morning.'

"Good morning, Gabriel," Harry replied, with Neville and Ron echoing him. "I've just written a letter to my godparents. Would you-"

"Tell you how to get to the Owlery?" Gabriel finished with a smile. "I'll do you one better and take you there myself. That way you won't have to worry about forgetting any of my directions and getting lost. If your friends want to come with us, they can."

At that point, Susan and Hermione came out from the door that led to the girls' dormitories. They were holding letters in their hands, so Gabriel offered to take them along to the Owlery as well, which they accepted.

"You can send your letter along with mine, Hermione," Harry offered. "Either Hedwig will drop it off at your parents, or Aunt Ria or Uncle Sirius will pass it on to them."

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione with a smile. "I was going to ask, if I couldn't get a school owl to do so."

Gabriel led the five of them to the Owlery. Hedwig flew down from her perch amidst a number of other owls, and Susan's owl did the same from another perch on the other side of the room. "Hello, girl," Harry whispered, stroking Hedwig's feathers. She gave him a gentle nip on the finger in return, then stood still as he tied his and Hermione's letters to her leg. "These go to the Grangers and Aunt Ria, Uncle Sirius, and Uncle Remus, okay?"

Hedwig hooted in reply and then took off, with Susan's owl following her a second later. After that, Gabriel led the group downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast, so that they wouldn't get lost. On the way, they ran into Peeves the Poltergeist, but he was too busy drawing things on a bust of some famous wizard to pay much attention to them. Once they were out of earshot, Gabriel warned them about Peeves, adding that only the Bloody Baron, the ghost of Slytherin House, could control the poltergeist, though he usually showed some respect to the teachers, especially Professor Dumbledore.

During breakfast, the schedules were handed out. Harry looked over his and saw that he had Herbology three times a week, and it was a double period with the Gryffindors. Potions was on Thursdays, and it was a double period with Ravenclaw. The rest of the classes appeared to just consist of his fellow Hufflepuffs, other than Astronomy, which was with all four houses and took place at midnight on Wednesdays.

Shortly after that, the mail arrived. After Harry had gotten over the shock of seeing so many owls arrive at once, he realized that Aunt Ria's owl, Topaz, had arrived with a package and letter from him. The letter was from his three guardians, asking him if he had gotten into Hufflepuff and to write back as soon as he could. The package contained a tin of biscuits to share with his friends and some joke items, including a couple of Dungbombs, from Zonko's.

"Uncle Sirius must be trying to corrupt you," said Hermione, raising a brow at the joke items.

"Well, the Marauders were pranksters," said Harry. "And it's not like I don't enjoy a good prank, so long as nobody gets hurt by it. But I doubt I'll be using any of these, unless that Draco Malfoy persists in being annoying and rude to me."

After breakfast, he dropped off the package in his trunk, and then joined his friends for Charms. One of the female prefects, a fifth year named Heidi McAvoy, and the Fat Friar will quite willing to direct them and the other Hufflepuff first years to the Charms classroom.

As the week progressed, Harry found that the classes were interesting (with the exceptions of History of Magic, as the ghost teacher, Professor Binns, made everything sound boring, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, as Professor Quirrell's stuttering made his lectures longer as the students tried to decipher what he said and he was extremely jumpy and nervous). The other Hufflepuffs all seemed to be a good sort, as well, with the obvious exception of Zacharias Smith, and most of them respected Harry and didn't pester him about his private life or make a big deal of his fame. The few Hufflepuffs that did stopped after the first couple of days, realizing that he was just an ordinary student like everyone else.

However, the same couldn't be said of the rest of the school. Wherever Harry went, there were students whispering about him, pointing at him, and trying to get a good look at him. Several of the Gryffindors were heard muttering over the fact that he'd been Sorted into Hufflepuff, as they'd expected that he'd be in Gryffindor like his parents. A number of Slytherins, lead by Malfoy and an older student, insinuated that Harry must be weak or that his defeat of the Dark Lord must have been a fluke if he was Sorted into such a pathetic and loser house, and his friends were losers with him.

After the third time of such comments, Harry lost his temper and snapped back, "At least I'm not in a house that has a reputation for producing evil people! Besides, Hufflepuff is a great house. My friends and I got Sorted here because we're loyal, dedicated, and fair, which are excellent qualities to have. Furthermore, do you realize how fierce badgers are, especially when protecting themselves and their young? So I'm proud to be a Badger!"

"And we are too," said his friends, moving so that they were all standing next to him. Ernie, Justin, Hannah, and Lillian, who had been nearby, joined them.

"I suggest you guys leave us alone, or you'll find out how fierce badgers can be," said Ernie.

The group of Slytherins glared at the Hufflepuffs, then strode off. "Good for you, Harry," said Justin. "I agree with what you said."

"And we'll support you against the Slytherins and anyone else that think you being Hufflepuff is reason to make fun of you," added Hannah.

Harry's defense of Hufflepuff and his being Sorted there spread to the rest of Hogwarts. The older Hufflepuffs had dealt with other students making fun of them for being in what was seen as the 'leftover or weakling house', but hearing that a group of first-years had declared that they were proud to be Badgers impressed them. Many of them complimented the group for it, and declared, like Hannah and Ernie, that they would back them up and show how fierce badgers could be if there was any further teasing. It also helped that Hermione had won Hufflepuff twenty points during the first week, for being the only one to successfully turn a match into a needle during their first Transfiguration class and knowing all about Switching Spells during the second, and Neville had won another twenty for his Herbology knowledge.

After that, when Malfoy and a couple of other Slytherin first-years tried to comment negatively on Harry and his friends being in Hufflepuff, it didn't go very well. Gabriel and Heidi happened to be walking by and heard the comments, and immediately told the Slytherins off, telling them that their behavior would be reported and if this kept up, they would be given detention. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson slunk away, looking sulky, and the two prefects escorted the first-years to Potions to prevent any more incidents from happening.

On Friday, Harry got another package from his guardians, this one containing a strawberry shortcake, and a letter from Aunt Ria complimenting him on standing up for Hufflepuff (Professor McGonagall had heard of the incident and written to her about it). Hedwig also delivered a note from Hagrid, inviting Harry and his friends over for tea that afternoon, since they had Friday afternoons free. He quickly scribbled a short note of acceptance and sent Hedwig with it.

Ten minutes before three, the quintet left the common room and set off for the school grounds, where Hagrid's house was located. He greeted them cheerfully, offered them tea and rock cakes (the latter which they accepted out of politeness and only pretended to eat, as his baking wasn't that great except when it came to ordinary cakes), and asked how their week had been. "I see yeh all like bein' in Hufflepuff," he commented. "I heard how yeh said yeh was proud to be a Badger, Harry."

Harry blushed, but said, "Well, I got fed up with the Slytherins thinking that Hufflepuff is the 'loser house' and that my friends and I are weak or losers for being Sorted there. I had to make it clear that Hufflepuff is a great house and that I'm not ashamed to be there."

"I don't blame yeh," said Hagrid. "Hufflepuff is a good house, and jus' the fact that yer friends and yeh are there proves it's true."

When the conversation turned to Ron telling Hagrid how Charlie was doing in Romania, Harry happened to spot a newspaper clipping on the table. Out of curiosity, he glanced at it and and saw that it was an update on the break-in that had occurred in Gringotts. Of course, he had heard about it, including the fact that it had happened on the day of his birthday, but according to the clipping, the attempted break-in had been on a vault that had been emptied earlier that day. Harry frowned, recalling that Hagrid had also been on an errand for Professor Dumbledore that day, fetching something from one of the extra-security vaults. Could that have been the vault that had been the target for the break-in? If so, it sounded as if Hagrid had removed whatever what was in it just in time.

Susan and Hermione gave Harry questioning looks and he slid the clipping over to them. Looks of comprehension came to their faces as they read it. "Hagrid," said Susan, interrupting, "could the vault that was broken into be the one you visited for Professor Dumbledore? You certainly emptied it in time, if that's the case."

Hagrid looked awkward for several seconds, before finally saying, "It's none o' yer business, Susan."

"Ah, sorry," Susan apologized. "I was just curious. We won't pry anymore."

Hagrid looked satisfied with that and offered them more tea. An hour later, the quintet returned to the castle, their pockets filled with rock cakes that they'd been too polite to refuse. As they walked, Harry, Susan, and Hermione explained to Ron and Neville about the newspaper clipping.

"So that's why you were asking, Susan," said Ron. "Well, I guess from Hagrid refusing to say, we can assume that it was the vault that Hagrid had to visit for Professor Dumbledore."

"But since it is none of our business, we won't pry," Hermione pointed out. "Besides, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has the matter in hand."

With that, they said no more on the subject, and after throwing out the rock cakes, went inside the Great Hall for dinner.


	9. Chapter 9

On Saturday morning, Harry got the front page of Thursday's edition of the _Daily Prophet_ from Aunt Ria. It was devoted to an article about him, with the headline "Boy-Who-Lived Starts Hogwarts and Has Unexpected Sorting." He grimaced and glanced at the note that came with the newspaper, which simply said, "Dear Harry, I'm sorry about the article, but Sirius and I thought you should know instead of being taken unawares. Love, Aunt Ria."

"Look at this guys," he muttered to his friends, who gathered around him to read the article, which was by Rita Skeeter.

 _"As many of you know, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and defeater of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, turned eleven this year and therefore started Hogwarts. There has been much speculation as to which House he would be Sorted in, with the general consensus that he would likely be in Gryffindor, like his illustrious parents, James and Lily Evans Potter. He was seen purchasing his school supplies with the Longbottoms and Weasleys, who are staunch Gryffindor families, which further cemented the consensus that he would be a Gryffindor._

 _However, to the surprise of everyone, on the evening of the Sorting, Harry Potter was Sorted into Hufflepuff. While that house is known for hard-work, loyalty, and fairness, it is also seen as the weakest and least prestigious of all four houses. In addition, both the Longbottom boy and the youngest Weasley boy, whom Mr. Potter seems to have befriended, were Sorted into Hufflepuff with him. In fact, the Weasley boy refused an attempt to Sort him in Gryffindor, and was a Hatstall, which for those who don't know, is a term used to describe someone that takes more than five minutes to be Sorted. True Hatstalls are rare, with near ones being more common, and the last Hatstall to occur was reportedly during the 1970's._

 _In any case, Mr. Potter does not seem to be disappointed in his Sorting. In fact, from all reports, he apparently wished to be Sorted into Hufflepuff, stating that he didn't wish to become embroiled in the rivalry that Gryffindor and Slytherin have. Also, he has declared that he was 'proud to be a Badger'. In fact, when some other students commented on the fact that he was in Hufflepuff, it was reported that he declared that 'Hufflepuff is a great house!' and that he and his friends were Sorted there because they were 'loyal, dedicated, and fair, which are excellent qualities to have.' He also mentioned how real life badgers are known for being fierce when in defense of themselves and their young, and inspired a fellow first-year to tell the other students to leave or_ _they'd 'find out how fierce badgers can be.' Another Hufflepuff also said that they would support Mr. Potter against further comments._

 _Certainly there is some significance with Mr. Potter being in Hufflepuff. He may not be a Gryffindor, showing courage and bravery, but he has apparently inspired loyalty, or at least some support, among his housemates. Perhaps it is his defense of his house, or perhaps he has a certain charm, that inspired it, but Mr. Potter bears watching for great things in the future. It is highly possible that he will bring either fame or infamy to his House, and change the reputation of Hufflepuff in the years to come._ "

"Huh, this actually is one of Rita Skeeter's better articles," said Ron in surprise, who didn't normally read the newspaper but had heard his parents complain about the reporter frequently. "It got the facts straight and didn't say anything outright bad about you, Harry, other than the fact that you could bring infamy to Hufflepuff, and implied our house reputation could be changed for better or worse."

"But how did she know exactly what you said, Harry?" Hermione asked. "She could have heard of the incident, since it spread all over school and I bet some of the students would have written their families about it, but only the ones present could have told her told what you said. None of us were interviewed by Rita Skeeter, and neither were Justin, Ernie, Hannah, or Lillian. As for the Slytherins, they would twisted what you said and bad-mouthed you."

Harry shrugged. "I'm sure there were students passing by that overheard me. Maybe one of them spoke with her. At least this article is accurate and she's not saying bad stuff about me like she does to most people in her articles." He folded up the article and stuck it in his pocket to dispose of later.

Normally Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had flying class together, but for some odd reason this year, the announcement pinned on the notice board in the common room said that Hufflepuff would be having the class with the Slytherins, on Thursday. "Maybe they got tired of pairing Gryffindor and Slytherin together, since those two houses don't get along," Cedric Diggory speculated.

"But if that's the case, then why are they still together for Potions, instead of putting one of them with us and the other with Ravenclaw?" Heidi pointed out.

Since Cedric, nor anyone else in Hufflepuff, had a good reply to this, the matter was dropped. Instead, the first-years talked about the upcoming flying class and were quite excited about it. As Justin, being Muggleborn (and unlike Hermione, hadn't befriended any wizarding children before getting his Hogwarts letter), had never flown on a broom before, Harry lent him _Quidditch Through the Ages_ and the book on flying tips and maneuvers so that he'd have some idea of what to do before class. Cedric was also nice enough to take out his broom and show Justin how to properly mount and grip it, which further lessened the younger boy's nervousness over flying.

At three-thirty on Wednesday afternoon, the Hufflepuff and Slytherin first years walked out to the Quidditch pitch. Twenty brooms were laid out on the grass, in two rows of ten. The instructor and usual referee in the school Quidditch matches, Madam Hooch, walked out. She had a stern gaze, rather reminiscent of a hawk, short gray hair, and sharp golden eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Harry glanced down at his broom. It was old and some of the twigs stuck out at odd angles.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say 'Up!'"

"Up!" everyone shouted. Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, but it was one of the few that did. Justin's broom had simply rolled over on the ground, and he ended up having to pick up his broom when it stubbornly refused to rise.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. Harry and Ron were delighted when she told Malfoy that he'd been doing it wrong for years.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard," said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three - two -"

But Justin, who was already rather nervous about flying and apparently frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips. "Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Justin was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle - twelve feet - twenty feet.

Without even thinking about it, Harry promptly reacted by taking off on his broom, with Susan following him a second later. As Madam Hooch called them back, the two managed to reach Justin just as he glanced down at the ground and saw how high up he was, with him getting higher every second. As he gasped and started to slide off his broom, Susan and Harry grabbed his arms. Somehow, between the two of them, they managed to stop the broom's ascent, and got Justin to clamber behind Susan on the latter's broom. Justin, face pale, grabbed tightly to the back of Susan's robe, and the two slowly made their descent to the ground.

Meanwhile, Harry grabbed the single broom and started to descend, when he saw Susan's necklace break loose and the pendent come flying off. Since the pendent was breakable, he reacted by going after it, dropping the other broom to the ground as he went. About a foot off the ground, he caught the pendent, managing to pull his broom straight at the same time, and then toppled gently to the ground, the pendent clutched in his hand.

"Here, Susan," said Harry breathlessly, getting to his feet and handing the pendent to his friend, who was fishing out the chain, which luckily hadn't fallen off but only got tangled in her robes.

"Thanks, Harry," said Susan, putting the chain and pendent in her pocket. "Justin, are you all right?"

Justin nodded. "Just a bit scared, that's all. Thanks for rescuing me, guys. If you hadn't, I'd have fallen off and injured myself."

Madam Hooch strode over and gave him a once-over. "If you're sure you're all right, Mr. Finch-Fletchley, was it, then you can sit over there and just observe for the rest of the lesson. Mr. Potter and - Miss Bones, I believe, ten points to Hufflepuff for the each of you for your quick thinking and saving your classmate. That was well-done of you, though you, Mr. Potter, shouldn't have gone after Miss Bone's pendent like that. You could have crashed and done yourself injury, no matter how much prior experience with flying you have."

"I'm sorry, Madam Hooch, but Susan would have been upset if the pendent was broken," Harry said. "It was her mother's."

Madam Hooch shot Susan a sharp look, who confirmed what Harry had said. "Ah. In that case, I shall just let you off with the warning, Mr. Potter. And I will inform Professor Sprout of the rescue of your classmate and your flying skills, Miss Bones and Mr. Potter."

The rest of the lesson proceeded with no further incident, unless one counted the sour looks that Malfoy shot Harry. Later on, at dinner, Professor Sprout asked Harry and Susan if she could have a word with them in her office after the meal.

When the two showed up at their Head of House's office, Professor Sprout warmly greeted them. "Madam Hooch told me about what happened at your flying class. I am very pleased with how you rescued Justin and kept him from falling."

"We didn't really think about it, Professor Sprout," said Susan. "We just reacted, because Justin looked like he was in trouble."

"That was still a good thing to have done," said Professor Sprout. "Now, Rolanda, that is Madam Hooch, also told me how well the two of you flew, and that you in particular, Mr. Potter, have the skills of a Seeker. In fact, she said you were as good, or better, than Charlie Weasley. I suppose your friend Ron told you about his older brother and his skill as Seeker?" Harry nodded and she continued, "I had a word with Professor Dumbledore at dinner, and he agreed to bend the rules a bit and allow the two of you to try out for the Hufflepuff Quidditch team. We need a new Seeker and Chaser."

Susan and Harry exchanged excited looks. First-years normally did not make the house teams, even as a reserve, and the last time anyone as young as them had been on a team, that had been about a century ago.

Professor Sprout smiled at the expressions on their faces. "Tryouts will be on Friday evening. If you have any brooms of your own, you may have your guardians send them to you to use for tryouts. However, if you don't make the team, they'll have to be returned, understood?"

"Yes, Professor Sprout," the two said at once.

"Very good then." Professor Sprout gave them some coconut ice from a tin she had, and then beamingly sent them off.

When Harry and Susan told their friends what had gone on during the meeting, they were quite impressed, especially Ron and Neville. "Wow, I hope you guys make it on the team," said Ron. "I think you'll definitely will, Harry, since you've beaten Charlie to the Snitch the last couple of times you played against each other."

Harry modestly shrugged, while Susan said, "I doubt I'm good enough to be made Chaser. I'm a good flyer, but I'm not that great at Quidditch. I'm just going to try out so that Harry won't be singled out as the only first year. Anyway, I'm going to write Auntie Amelia about what's going on and ask her to send me my Cleansweep. It's not as good as Harry's Nimbus, but at least it's better than the Shooting Stars that the school has. You'd better do the same, Harry."

On Friday morning, at mail time, Harry's and Susan's brooms were delivered. Since it wouldn't be wise to let the rest of the school (other than the Hufflepuffs, who knew about the two being allowed to attend tryouts) know that they had been allowed to have their brooms for the time being, neither opened the packages. They simply read the letters that their respective guardians had sent them, congratulating them on being able to try out and wishing them luck, and then put the brooms in their trunks right after breakfast.

Tryouts were after dinner, and in addition to Harry and Susan, twelve other people were trying out, one of them Cedric Diggory. Seven of them were weeded out quickly, leaving Harry, Susan, Cedric, two second year boys, another third year who was friends with Cedric, and a fourth-year girl. The Captain, who was Heidi McAvoy, had the remaining candidates go again. At the end, she announced, "Harry Potter, since you were the best, you are Hufflepuff's new Seeker. Cedric Diggory, since you are equally good as Chaser and Seeker, I have decided to make you Chaser, as well as the reserve Seeker. If anything should prevent Harry from playing in a match, you'll fill in for him. In that case, someone will have to fill in for you, Cedric, and so Alison Cooper, you will be the reserve Chaser. I'll have a schedule for our practices drawn up by Sunday. Alison, since you're a reserve, you won't have to attend all practices, but I would like you to attend at least one a week so you can practice and get a feel for working with the other Chasers. Dismissed."

As most of Hufflepuff house had turned out to watch the tryouts, they left the stands and converged on the pitch to congratulate the new members. Harry's friends hugged him and complimented him on his flying.

"I'd been hoping that some of the new Hufflepuffs were good Quidditch players," said Gabriel, who had mentioned it during his welcoming message. "It looks like my wish came true with you, Harry, and we'll do much better at the Quidditch tournament this year. And good for you, Cedric, for making Chaser and reserve Seeker. If something, Merlin forbid, should prevent Harry from playing in a match, we'll still have a Seeker to field."

Another older student nodded. "That's true. Oh, I'd heard that your father was really good at Quidditch, Harry, though he played Chaser. There's a Quidditch trophy with his name on it in the Trophy Room. It looks like you inherited his talent."

Several others clapped Harry, Cedric, and Alison on the back. "All right," said Maude Roper, the seventh-year female prefect, "let's go back to the Common Room and celebrate our new Quidditch players. And cheer up the ones that didn't make it on the team."

The Hufflepuffs trooped off the pitch and headed back to the castle.

Author's Note: Harry becoming a Seeker didn't change (though the circumstances of how he was made Seeker did), since he's still going to have inherited his father's talent no matter what. (Unless I wrote an AU that completely changed his talents.) I vaguely recall reading a fic once in which Harry was in Hufflepuff and got made a Beater due to saving Professor Sprout from a runaway Bludger during his flying class, but obviously I wasn't going to go that route. As I didn't want to remove Cedric from the team, and he is a good Seeker, I decided to make him Chaser and the reserve Seeker, like how Ginny was in _Half-Blood Prince_. (She filled in for Harry during the final match and Dean Thomas took over her spot as Chaser, since he'd filled in for Katie Bell previously.)


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: According to Pottermore and the list that J. K. Rowling had made of the students in Harry's year, the name is Lily Moon, whose name was obviously thought up before Harry's mother's name was decided on and is supposed to be first intimation of Luna Lovegood. Since I didn't want any confusion with her and Harry's mother, I decided that for this fic, her first name would be Lillian instead, Lil for short.

Since Harry becoming the Hufflepuff Seeker wasn't exactly a secret, the news spread to the rest of the school as well. Fred and George, who were Beaters on the Gryffindor team, came up to him at breakfast on Sunday. "Good for you, Harry," George said. "It's too bad you're not in Gryffindor. Our captain, Oliver Wood, moaned about that, since you could have been our Seeker instead."

"It'll be fun competing with you in matches, though," added Fred with a teasing grin. "We'll try not to hit the Bludgers at you too many times."

"The Bludgers will miss most of the time," Harry replied with a similar grin. "I'm small and quick, and my broom is really fast."

"We'll see," said George. "Lions are fierce too, you know. Anyway, we just wanted to congratulate you on making the Hufflepuff team."

"And we're sure you'll do well," Fred said. "We just hope you won't do too well in your matches against us."

Not everyone, however, was as good-natured as the Weasley twins about it. Zacharias Smith, who was good at flying and had some skill as a Chaser, was quite sour over the fact that Harry and Susan had been allowed to attend tryouts, and even more put out when Harry had made the team.

"Come off it, Zach," Ernie said impatiently. "It's not like Harry and Susan asked Madam Hooch to tell Professor Sprout about their flying skills."

"Neither were they thinking of showing off when they rescued me," Justin added. "All they saw was that their housemate was in trouble and went after me without really thinking about it."

"And Harry wasn't trying to show off when he caught Susan's pendent," said Hannah. "Susan told me that the necklace once belonged to her mother and is one of the few possessions she has of her, so she'd be distraught if it got lost or broken. Harry knows that, which was why he went after it."

"There are Summoning and Repairing Charms," Zacharias pointed out. "So it's not that big a deal."

"Well, Harry wasn't thinking about that when he went after it!" Lillian snapped. "All he thought about was rescuing his friend's treasured pendent."

"What's the matter with you, Zacharias?" Ernie asked. "Harry's a great person, and doesn't make a fuss over his fame. He's proud to be in Hufflepuff, and inspires the same pride in the rest of us. Why don't you just give over being jealous of him and at least leave him alone, if you can't be friendly with him?"

Zacharias glared at Ernie and then stalked off in a huff. "How the heck did he get into Hufflepuff if he's not exactly living up to our values?" Justin asked.

"It did take a couple of minutes for him to be Sorted," Lillian pointed out. "And Zacharias did say that he was descended from Helga Hufflepuff. Maybe the relation to our Founder is what convinced the Sorting Hat to place him here and not in another House."

Harry and his friends came over then. "Do you have any idea why Zacharias looked so put out?" Hermione asked. "Well, more than he usually is. I know he was rather upset that Harry and Susan got to attend tryouts, but why did he have to glare at Harry just now and snarl 'I'm not jealous of you!'?"

Justin and Hannah explained what had just happened. "Ah," said Harry. "Thanks for defending Susan and me, guys."

After that, the quintet associated with their roommates (minus Zacharias, who insisted on still being rather unpleasant and rude) more often, and went from being merely friendly to actual friends with them. Of course, since the quintet had been friends with each other for several years, they were much closer to each other, but that was to be expected. The other four had formed a close friendship by the end of the first week, so it was similar on their end as well.

The next day, Malfoy (who was another person that was sour over Harry making it on the Hufflepuff team) approached the Hufflepuff table at dinnertime, Crabbe and Goyle behind him. "So, think you're so special, Potter?" Malfoy said. "I'm just as good at being Seeker as you are."

"If that were the case, Madam Hooch would have spoken to Professor Snape about it and recommended that you try out for the Slytherin team," Ernie pointed out.

A pink tinge appeared in Malfoy's cheeks, but he ignored her to say, "Well, aren't you going to say something, Potter?"

"What do you want me to say, Malfoy?" Harry asked patiently. "I would much rather enjoy dinner with my friends and housemates than talk with you."

Malfoy blinked, then regained his composure to snap, "You must be weak and pathetic if you don't want to respond to me. No wonder you got into Hufflepuff."

"That's enough!" Harry snapped. "Hufflepuff is an excellent house! We're dedicated and fair, which is more than can be said for Slytherin. And I'm not weak or pathetic," he added as an afterthought.

"If you're not, then prove it," Malfoy snapped. "Take me on in a wizard's duel tonight. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose? Or are you afraid?"

"Do I have to remind you _again_ about my godfather and how he saw to it that I knew all about the wizarding world?" Harry said very patiently and slowly, as if he were talking to a young child or a rather thick person. "I have no objection to a wizarding duel."

"I'll be your second," several of his housemates, including his friends, said at the same time.

Harry raised a brow, then said, "Hmm, since it wouldn't really be fair to pick someone older, I'll stick to the other first-years. Hermione, since you're good at spellwork and know lots of spells, you can be my second. Malfoy, who's yours?"

Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle, sizing them up. "Crabbe," he said. "Midnight all right? We'll met you in the trophy room; that's always unlocked."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest over being out of bounds, but Harry spoke first. "Actually, Malfoy, midnight is _not_ all right. I don't want to be caught out after curfew and get detention or lose a bunch of points for Hufflepuff. If we're going to duel, we shall do it within school rules." He got up and walked over to the staff table. "Excuse me, Professor Sprout, Professor Snape? Draco Malfoy challenged me to a wizard's duel. I have no problem accepting it, but he proposed that we do it at midnight in the trophy room. I don't want to be out of bounds, and I'm not entirely sure if students are allowed to duel each other outside of Defense class or a dueling club. Could I please get your thoughts on this?"

Professor Snape looked sharply at Malfoy. "Is this true, Malfoy? Did you challenge Potter to a duel and suggest holding it after curfew?"

Malfoy hesitated, but there were too many witnesses, and the other teachers wouldn't favor him the way Snape would. "Yes it is, Professor Snape."

"Hmph," said Professor Snape, frowning. "Well, Potter, dueling between students is allowed outside of Defense class, but only with a teacher supervising it and at a predetermined date and time. I believe I have some time free after dinner to supervise a duel."

"So do I," added Professor Sprout. "If you and Mr. Malfoy wish to duel, Mr. Potter, then the two of us, as your Heads of House, will supervise a duel tonight."

"But -" protested Malfoy, before shutting his mouth. Harry glanced at the other boy in surprise, then realized that perhaps Malfoy had no intention of actually dueling at all when he first proposed the challenge. The fact that he had suggested midnight as the time pointed to him not showing up at all, instead tipping off a teacher or the caretaker, Filch, so that Harry would be in trouble when he showed up in the trophy room for the duel. Of course, now that the teachers were involved, and the rest of the school could hear what was going on, Malfoy couldn't exactly back out of it without looking like a coward or fool.

"If Malfoy changed his mind about dueling, I'm fine with it," Harry said. "In fact, I wouldn't be able to duel tonight. I've got Quidditch practice. Tomorrow wouldn't work, either, since I promised my friends that we'd go to the library and work on our homework."

"Then I take it that there will be no duel going on between the two of you?" Professor Sprout asked.

Harry nodded. "I'd rather wait a couple of years until we know more spells. It won't be much fun watching us shoot sparks at each other or trying to turn each other's hair or robes different colors, since that's pretty much all the spells we can do."

"Fine then," said Professor Snape curtly. "The two of you get back to your dinners."

Ron, Ernie, and Justin looked rather disappointed that there wouldn't be a duel, but after Harry told them what he'd realized about Malfoy probably wanting to get him in trouble, they got over it. "That was smart of you, Harry," Hermione remarked. "I wondered why Malfoy suggested midnight as the dueling time."

September passed into October, and one day, a week before Halloween, the Hufflepuff Nine, as the group of first-years were starting to be known, accidentally discovered why the third floor corridor was out-of-bounds. They had stayed at the library longer than the time allowed for first-years, not realizing it until Madam Pince, the librarian, shooed them and the other students out at closing time at nine o'clock. The other students were all fifth to seventh years, and none of them were in Hufflepuff.

In the Hufflepuff Nine's haste to get back to their common room, they made a wrong turn and ran into Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. She meowed at them, and realizing their mistake and the fact that if Filch caught them, they would be in trouble, ran off in the opposite direction. In their attempt to evade being caught, they ended up in the Charms corridor, with a locked door at the very end. Ron and Justin fruitlessly tugged at the door, while Susan and Lillian looked around to see if there was another they could go without being caught by Filch.

"Move aside," Hermione hissed, gently pushing Justin out of the way and tapping her wand at the lock. " _Alohomora_!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open - the nine of them piled through it, shut it quickly, and gathered around it, listening. A minute later, quick footsteps were heard, and Filch's voice was heard muttering, "They must be around here somewhere, my sweet. Let's go on." The footsteps then faded.

"He thinks this door is locked," Ernie muttered. "Let's wait a minute to make sure he's gone and then we can - what is it, Justin?"

Justin stuttered, "B-b-behind us," and the others turned around to see what he talking about. They weren't in a room as they supposed, but in the forbidden corridor on the third floor. And now they knew why it was forbidden.

They were looking straight into the eyes of a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between floor and ceiling. It had three heads, like the dog that guarded the Underworld in Greek myth. While drool was dripping from its mouths, it was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them. It was clear that the only reason they weren't already dead was that their sudden appearance had taken it by surprise, but it was quickly getting over that, there was no mistaking what those thunderous growls meant.

Harry was closest to the door and he groped for the doorknob, opening the door and almost tripping over his feet in his haste to leave. His friends quickly followed and Hermione slammed shut and re-locked the door. Filch wasn't around anymore, and they were lucky enough not to run into him or any of the teachers in their dash to the Hufflepuff common room.

Once at the barrels, they took a couple of minutes to catch their breaths and compose themselves, since there were bound to be people in the common room, who would notice if they were upset and ask what was wrong.

"What in Merlin's name is a Cerberus doing in Hogwarts?" Susan demanded once she'd caught her breath. "And in a corridor that can be opened with a simple Unlocking Charm! What if someone like the Weasley twins, who don't always follow school rules, decided to see why the corridor was out-of-bounds? Or someone like us, who didn't realize it was the forbidden corridor and tried to enter?"

"I don't know about not making the corridor harder to access, but I can answer why a Cerberus is in the school," Hermione replied. "I happened to look down, and I saw it was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed. "It must be guarding whatever it was Hagrid had to fetch from Gringotts for Professor Dumbledore!" He explained about Hagrid's errand on the day Harry had gone to get his school supplies, and how he and his closest friends had found out that the vault was the one that had been broken into.

"I think you're right, Harry," said Lillian thoughtfully. "Well, let's go inside before any of our housemates realize we're not there and start looking for us. We can discuss this further tomorrow." She took out her wand and tapped the correct barrel five times, allowing them entrance.

The next day, Harry recalled Sirius and Remus telling him about the Room of Requirement, so he took the others there so that they could talk in private without being overheard. The Room took on form similar to the Hufflepuff common room, but smaller and with fewer tables, couches, and chairs.

"Do any of you have any idea what would be hidden at Hogwarts?" Justin asked. "And why would it be hidden here? Isn't Gringotts safe enough?"

"It was broken into," Hannah reminded him. "And Hogwarts is the other safest place in Great Britain."

"As for what's being hidden, all I know is that it was small enough to fit in one of Hagrid's coat pockets," said Harry. "So it's probably not much bigger than, say, the Remembrall your grandmother sent you, Neville, or an inkpot."

"The fact that it needs to be protected here means it's either really valuable or really dangerous," Ron said.

"Or both," Hermione pointed out. "Look, is this any of our business? I know its something of a mystery and we're all curious, but Hagrid did say to stay out of it. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore, as the Headmaster, has the situation well in hand."

"You're right," said Neville, and so the nine of them dropped the subject and got started on their Transfiguration homework.

On Halloween morning, the school woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that afternoon that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practice the Levitation Charm on feathers.

As usual, Hermione was the first to get the spell, which made her partner, Zacharias Smith, very grumpy, especially as she'd corrected his pronunciation and he responded by challenging her to do it, if she was so clever. Professor Flitwick praised her, directing the attention of the rest of the class to her work, and awarded ten points to Hufflepuff.

When class ended, Zacharias was in towering mood, and once they were out in the corridor, he snapped, "You're an annoying know-it-all bookworm, Granger! You should have been in Ravenclaw with the other bookworms, not here in Hufflepuff! I don't like you, and your so-called friends are probably just using you to do their homework for them or to copy off of!"

Hermione, who had expected negative comments about her being Muggleborn, but not the kind of comments she had gotten back in primary school, gasped and turned pale, with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Take that back, Smith!" Ron growled, pulling his fist back and punching Zacharias, who dodged so that the punch ended up hitting his shoulder and not his face.

"How dare you insult Hermione!" Ernie hissed, his face going red in anger, pointing his wand at the other boy.

Susan and Hannah put their arms around Hermione. "Don't pay attention to the blatherings of an idiot, Hermione," Susan said. "He's just jealous that you're better than him in Charms."

"And we're most certainly not using you," Hannah added. "Er, Ron, while I do think Smith deserved that punch, don't hit him again. He's not worth getting in trouble over. Even if he started it, you'd still lose points for retaliating."

Ron reluctantly lowered his arm, and Neville said, "Don't ever talk to Hermione, or any of us, like that again, Smith. We protect our own, even against another Hufflepuff."

"Yeah," said Harry. "You'll see just how fierce Badgers can be."

"And you're not exactly one to talk about friends, Smith," Justin added. "You don't seem to have made too many since school started."

Zacharias's face reddened, and Lillian said coldly, "Now, I suggest you leave, and do as Neville said and not talk to us like that again. We _will_ defend ourselves, and go to the prefects if this continues."

"Fine!" spat Zacharias, and he stormed off.

"Come on, Hermione," said Susan. "Ignore the git and cheer up. There's the Halloween feast tonight and it's sure to be fun."

Hermione wiped her eyes and managed a smile. "Thanks for defending me, guys."

"What are friends for?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Let's get back to the common room and have some quiet time in remembrance of my parents, who died today, and then we can go to the feast and celebrate Halloween."

"Oh yeah, You-Know-Who did go after your family on Halloween," said Ernie, remembering. "Why aren't we, that is the wizarding world in general, taking the time to remember them? Everyone's pretty much just celebrating Halloween and don't seem to remember your parents' sacrifice."

Harry shrugged. "I suppose the fact that Voldemort was also defeated overshadowed their deaths. Oh come on, guys, it's just a name. Anyway, Uncles Sirius and Remus and Aunt Ria always made sure that in addition to celebrating the holiday, I also took the time to remember my parents' deaths and honor them."

When the nine got to the common room, Justin went off to speak with Gabriel and Maude. A few minutes later, Maude got the room's attention and said, "Justin reminded Gabriel and me that today also happens to be the anniversary of the deaths of Lily and James Potter. Since their son, Harry, is a member of our House, I suggest we take a few minutes to be quiet and remember their sacrifice."

"You didn't have to do that, Justin," Harry whispered.

"Ernie had a point," Justin whispered back. "I figured the Hufflepuffs could at least take the time to honor them, if the rest of the wizarding world isn't doing so."

The common room was silent for the next five minutes as the Hufflepuffs remembered the Potters' deaths and honored their sacrifice.

Later on, during the feast, everyone was enjoying themselves when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair and gasped, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know." He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.

There was an uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately."

As the Hufflepuff prefects gathered up their housemates, Hannah asked, "What about the Slytherins? Isn't their common room near the dungeons?"

"There's a back-up in place," Gabriel responded. "If a common room isn't safe to go to, the prefects take the students to the library. Come on."

The Hufflepuffs made their way to their common room, the prefects in the lead. Once safely inside, many of them began speculating as to how a troll could have gotten in, only pausing when some of the food from the feast was sent down so that they could finish dinner.

Twenty minutes later, Professor Sprout came in to announce that the troll had been found wandering near one of the girls' bathrooms and that the teachers had swiftly dealt with it. Several students cheered, and she continued, "It's safe to leave the common room now. As for how the troll got into the castle, we teachers are looking into the matter, so let us deal with it, all right? Enjoy the rest of your Halloween."

Professor Sprout left the room and everyone returned to finishing their meal.


	11. Chapter 11

In November was the start of the Quidditch season. Harry put forth extra effort during practices, as Hufflepuff's first match, against Ravenclaw, would take place the third Saturday of the month, and he wanted to do well. Heidi was quite impressed, and remarked after one practice, "If you guys play like this in our matches, we'll definitely win the Quidditch Cup this year."

On Friday, Harry went to the staff room to see if he could speak with Professor McGonagall about a question he had with his Transfiguration essay, since she wasn't in her office. However, when he knocked on the door and looked inside, he saw the room was empty for Professor Snape and Filch. The former was holding his robes above his knees, exposing a bloody and mangled leg (was that why he had been limping during Potions yesterday?), and the latter was handing him bandages.

"Blasted thing," Snape was saying. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"

Harry managed to shut the door before either Snape or Filch noticed him. From the sound of things, Professor Snape must have had a run-in with the Cerberus. When this happened Harry didn't know, though it probably took place on Halloween (maybe when the troll was wandering about the school) or in the couple of days after. As to why, he didn't know either, though he suspected it was to make sure that nobody had tried to go after whatever was being hidden. Yes, Sirius didn't like Professor Snape (and vice versa), but the Potions Master was, deep down, a good person (though not a nice one), and was on the side of Light for Lily Evans Potter's sake. He was also loyal to Professor Dumbledore (other than the matter of Harry's true upbringing), so there was that as well.

Luckily for Harry, he ran into Professor McGonagall on his way back to the Hufflepuff Common Room and so was able to ask her his question. "Thank you, Professor," he said once she answered him, and he continued on his way.

Back in the common room, he found his friends and gathered them in a corner of the room, where he told them, in a low voice, what he'd seen and heard in the staff room, and then surmised from it.

"Hmm, does this mean that the troll was let in as a diversion?" Susan asked. "If that's the case, then Professor Snape could have suspected that and went to check the forbidden corridor."

"Then that brings up the question of who let in the troll," said Justin. "I would say Professor Quirrell, since he was the one that came running into the Great Hall and shouted about it, but..."

"Yeah, he doesn't seem like the type," Lillian agreed. "The guy's practically afraid of his own shadow, and he fainted right after telling about the troll."

"The stuttering and fear could be an act," said Hermione, but she didn't sound like she actually believed it.

"Harry, are you sure Professor Snape couldn't have tried to get past the three-headed dog so he could steal whatever's being hidden?" Ernie asked.

"Yes," Harry said firmly. He looked around to make sure nobody else was paying attention to them, then continued, "Don't tell anyone else, but I know Professor Snape rather well, since he used to visit me during the holidays. He and my mum were friends back in school, until they had a falling out and she refused to make up. Even though he didn't get along with my dad, for my mum's sake, Snape is willing to tell me stories about her, and outside of his role as the strict teacher that favors Slytherin, he is a good person inside. He's also loyal to Professor Dumbledore and would never go against him like that. And that's all I will say about it, since anything else is Professor Snape's business and it's up to him if he doesn't want to keep it private."

The others (minus his oldest friends, who already knew this) nodded in understanding and promised to keep it secret, and then Hermione asked, "Shouldn't some of us write home about this? I mean about the forbidden corridor and the Cerberus. From what I read in _Hogwarts, a History_ , the school doesn't usually hide valuable and/or dangerous things. Well, I can't write my parents about it, since they'd either not really understand, or they'd think Hogwarts is unsafe and try to pull me out. And I bet your parents would be the same, Justin. But the rest of you could."

"Actually, my mum would probably freak out if I told her," Ron said. "Then she'd likely send a Howler to Dumbledore over the three-headed dog, and we'd get in trouble for being in the out-of-bounds corridor, even if it was by accident."

"I'll write a letter," said Susan. "Auntie Amelia isn't going to freak out like that, though she'll probably have a talk with Professor Dumbledore about it."

"And I can write my guardians," added Harry. "Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus might have some idea of what's going on, and Aunt Ria can advise us."

"I thought your Muggle aunt and uncle were your guardians, not your godfather and your parents' friends," Hannah said, looking confused.

Harry internally swore at the slip of his tongue, then decided that he trusted his newer friends enough to tell them the truth. After looking around again to make sure that nobody else was paying attention, he explained, "My relatives didn't want me at all. It seems my aunt was jealous of my mum being a witch, which then turned to hatred, and my uncle's narrow-minded and they both hate anything they consider 'abnormal'. They signed papers saying that they wanted nothing to do with me, and Uncle Sirius and Aunt Ria took over guardianship. It's a secret for the time being, to keep me out of the public eye."

"That's awful," said Justin. "My parents were surprised that I was a wizard, and Mother was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be going to Eton, but they didn't decide to hate me or the wizarding world and they still love and accept me."

"Well, if your relatives are like that, then it's a good thing they gave up custody of you to your godparents," said Lillian. "If they had kept you, no doubt they'd have made your life miserable. At best they would have neglected you and at worst they would have abused you."

The others shuddered. "It could have been worse than that, Lil," said Harry. "They left me in a basket on the steps of a church. If Aunt Ria hadn't been walking by and found me, I would have been shipped off to an orphanage or group home. It could have been good or bad, depending on how the place was, but I definitely wouldn't have made the friends I did or know about the wizarding world until I got my Hogwarts letter."

There were even more shudders at that, and Harry didn't say, but thought, that if that had happened, Peter Pettigrew wouldn't have been discovered, which would mean that Sirius would still in prison, and Neville's parents might not be around, since they probably would have either died or been tortured to insanity by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. In any case, Harry was just glad things had turned out the way they did.

"Well, it's a good thing that your life turned out the way it did then," said Ernie. "And I'm glad that you're in Hufflepuff and we're friends, Harry."

Harry smiled at him, and after a reminder from Susan, joined her in writing a letter to their guardians about the forbidden corridor and the Cerberus that was guarding something there.

The next day was the first Quidditch match of the school year, between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The Hufflepuffs were supporting Gryffindor, mostly because they got along better with that house than with Slytherin. Lee Jordan, a friend of the Weasley twins, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall, since he had a habit of showing his bias towards his own house (not the mention his comment on how attractive Angelina Johnson, one of Gryffindor's Chasers, was.)

The Slytherin team, led by Captain and Chaser Marcus Flint, a sixth-year, were comprised of all males, and with the exception of Seeker Terence Higgs, who was rather average in size, were along the lines of big and burly. From the look that Madam Hooch gave Flint when she told the captains that she wanted a 'nice, fair game' before the start of the match, he obviously was not above engaging in cheating. The Gryffindor team, on the other hand, had all three Chasers and their new Seeker (a rather small fourth-year) as girls, and they obviously played fairly.

After about forty minutes, the Gryffindor Seeker, Jade Maddox, spotted the Snitch and went streaking after it. Higgs noticed a few seconds later and followed her, but as she was closer and had a head start, she caught the Snitch, winning the game for Gryffindor, two hundred thirty points to eighty. The stands erupted into cheers as Lee happily announced the results.

It wasn't until Monday evening, after dinner, that Susan and Harry got a reply to their letters, which their guardians had gotten together to write as a composite letter.

" _Dear Harry and Susan_ (starting out in Aunt Ria's handwriting),

 _We can see why you are concerned. However, Professor McGongall did tell us, following the break-in at Gringotts, that there would be something hidden at Hogwarts for safe-keeping, since the attempt on the bank proved that there was someone after it. She added that Professor Dumbledore was arranging for several ways to guard it, so we presume that if someone were able to get past the Cerberus unscathed, he or she would have the other protections to deal with. Since you and your friends discovered this by accident, none of you are in trouble, but perhaps it would be best to not dwell on it any further."_

The next paragraph switched to Aunt Amelia's handwriting. " _I, Amelia Bones, will take the time to speak with Professor Dumbledore about this, but I am sure he has a good reason to be hiding something at Hogwarts. Though I do wish he wasn't doing it at a school full of students, Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain, especially since someone tried to break into Gringotts. I understand you are all curious, but it would be better for you to just focus on your studies and enjoying your time at school, not on adult matters. However, if it should end up having to involve you, we will keep you updated, since it would be no good to have you walking into matters blindly, and anyway, you aren't little children anymore._

The final paragraph was in Sirius's handwriting. "" _Remus, Ria, and I will be visiting Hogwarts in a couple of Saturdays, so we can see at your first Quidditch match, Harry. After the match, we can talk to you about this matter further, if necessary. We know it's odd that something would be hidden at Hogwarts, but it has happened before (even if it was only once or twice), according to Remus, who has read_ Hogwarts, a History _. Well, something important, anyway, since we're not going to count the stuff that students have hidden over the years in the Room of Requirement. (Though most of them wouldn't have known what the Room was and just assumed that it was place to hide things.) The Marauders discovered that form of the Room when we wanted to hide some of our prank items once and it revealed a large room full of stuff. It was like if someone had managed to horde things for a couple of centuries. Anyway, we'll see you guys soon, and will talk to you then."_

The letter was signed by all three writers. Harry and Susan passed around the letter to their friends once they were done reading, and after everyone in the group had read it, Harry said, "I guess we'll do what they said and not worry about it for the time being. Though I would like to see what the Room of Requirement is like in the form of a place to hide things."

"You seriously want to go inside a large room that's piled full of stuff?" asked Hermione, raising a brow. "From Uncle Sirius's description, it sounds like everything that ever got lost at Hogwarts and the stuff that students have hidden over the years are piled up in there."

"Why not?" asked Ron, siding with Harry. "We should see what it's like, in case we ever end up having to hide something there."

"You have a point," admitted Hermione, and as they still had over an hour before curfew, the Hufflepuff Nine left the common room and headed for the Room of Requirement.

When they entered the Room of Hidden Things, they had expected to see a large room with piles upon piles of stuff, but not what they did see. The room was the size of a large cathedral, whose high windows were sending shafts of light down upon what looked like a city with towering balls, built by what the group knew must be objects hidden or lost by generations of Hogwarts inhabitants. There were alleyways and roads bordered by teetering piles of broken and damaged furniture, stowed away, perhaps, to hide the evidence of mishandled magic, or else hidden by castle-proud house-elves. There were thousands and thousands of books, no doubt banned or graffitied or stolen. There were winged catapults and Fanged Frisbees, some still with enough life in them to hover halfheartedly over the mountains of other forbidden items; there were chipped bottles of congealed potions, hats, jewels, cloaks; there were what looked like dragon eggshells, corked bottles whose contents still shimmered evilly, several rusty swords, and a heavy, bloodstained axe.

The group just stood there, gaping in awe, until Lillian recovered enough to say, "I never thought it would be this big or have this much stuff. Do you guys want to poke around a bit? We might find something useful."

"Good idea, Lil," said Justin, and the group split up to examine the objects.

After several minutes, Hermione called out, "Hey guys, I found this old tiara, and it looks a lot like the diadem that Rowena Ravenclaw was wearing in that painting of hers depicted in _Hogwarts, a History_."

The others weaved their way to her and examined the diadem. "It does look like her missing diadem," said Harry, who had seen a photo of Rowena Ravenclaw's statue in a biography of the Founders that he'd read last year. "But how did it end up here?

"Well, it disappeared at the time of her death and nobody was able to find it," Susan pointed out. "Maybe she hid, or had it hidden, here before she died."

"That's assuming it is Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem and not a copy," said Neville. "We should turn it in to Professor Dumbledore and he can investigate."

After a minute of discussion, it was decided that Harry and Hermione would be the one to turn the diadem in to Professor Dumbledore, on the grounds that Sirius and Remus had told him about the Room of Requirement and she had read enough books to explain why she had recognized it. Hermione wrapped up the diadem in her scarf and stuck it into her schoolbag.

On their way to the door, they passed a magnificent mirror, with an ornate gold frame and rather tall, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._ They glanced at it and would have passed on by, but Ron, who was right in front of it, did a double take and stopped to look at his image more closely.

"Hey guys, wait," he said. "None of you are reflected in this mirror, just myself, and I look different too. I'm older, and I'm Head Boy."

" _What?_ " exclaimed Ernie, as they all stopped and turned to stare at Ron.

"I am - I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to - and I'm holding the House Cup and Quidditch Cup - I'm Quidditch captain too!"

The others clustered around him, but all they saw was Ron's ordinary reflection. "Sorry Ron, but that's not what we see," said Hannah. "All we see is your reflection as you look now."

"Maybe it shows the future of the person standing in front of it," said Ron. "Here, why don't one of you try?" He moved to one side and Harry stood in front of the mirror.

A gasp escaped his lips as he saw not just himself, but also his friends, Uncles Sirius and Remus, Aunt Ria, and two people that looked exactly like the photos he had of his parents. All of them were smiling at him, and his parents looked proud and happy. "Harry, what do you see?" asked Ernie.

"I don't think this mirror shows the future," said Harry slowly. "I see myself as I am now, and with me are you guys, my parents, and my current guardians. Since my parents are dead, well..." His voice trailed off.

There was silence for a minute, then Hermione frowned and examined the inscription on the mirror. "Hmm," she muttered, and then dug out a quill, pot of ink, and a scrap of parchment from her bag. "Since it's a mirror, maybe backwards would work?" There was the sound of scribbling and she exclaimed triumphantly, "My hunch was right! The inscription is written backwards, and it reads 'I show not your face but your heart's desire'!"

The others blinked for several seconds, then Ron said uncertainly, "So this mirror shows us our heart's desire? But why is my heart's desire to be Head Boy and Quidditch captain and winning both the House Cup and Quidditch Cup?"

"Your brother Bill was Head Boy and Charlie was Quidditch Captain," Harry pointed out. "And Percy's prefect and seems on his way to becoming Head Boy too. Maybe you feel that you've got to live up to them and by attaining both, you'd sort of be outdoing them?"

"I suppose," said Ron thoughtfully. "When you've got older brothers that've done great things at school, I guess it's hard to compete. But what about what you saw, Harry?"

"Since I saw my parents, I'm assuming that my heart's desire is for them to be alive and well and with me."

"But you said you also saw your guardians and us," Lillian pointed out. "So that means you want your life to be exactly the way it is now, except with the addition of your parents."

"Yeah," admitted Harry. "I like my life now, but it would be nice if my parents had lived and raised me. All the stories I've heard about them show that they were good people. Okay, my dad wasn't that nice while he was at Hogwarts, since he liked pranking people, and not all of his pranks were harmless, but he grew up and matured, and he was a good person at heart. He'd probably be a bit disappointed that I wasn't in Gryffindor, but he'd be proud of my standing up for Hufflepuff and making it on the Quidditch team and everything."

Ron and Hermione patted him on his shoulders, and Susan gave him a hug. "I'm sure they're watching over you in Heaven and are proud of you," the latter said. "You said something like that during Aunt Pandora's funeral."

Harry nodded, while Neville quietly explained to their other friends who Aunt Pandora was. Finally the group decided to leave the room, the others having no real wish to see their own heart's desires after what had just happened, and Harry and Hermione went to seek out Professor Dumbledore.

The two had no idea of where the headmaster's office was, since they hadn't any occasion to go there, but they found Professor Sprout in her office and she was willing to escort them there. When Professor Dumbledore heard their story and Hermione handed over the diadem, his eyes widened behind his spectacles. "I had no idea that Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem could have been hidden at Hogwarts," he said. "Hmm, it does look like it could have been hers. I will look further into this. Thank you for finding this diadem and bringing it to my attention. Oh, Mr. Potter, congratulations on being in Hufflepuff. I had hoped that you would be in Gryffindor like your parents, but upon further reflection and your actions since you've been at Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat made the right decision and you are a credit to your house and this school. I am proud of you."

Harry blinked. "T-thank you, Professor Dumbledore," he said, doing his best to hide his surprise.

The headmaster smiled at him, his eyes twinkling merrily. "You're welcome. Again, thank you, Miss Granger and Mr. Potter for the diadem. You may go now."

* * *

When the day of the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match came, Harry was extremely nervous. Butterflies were in his stomach, as he wondered if he would end up making a fool of himself and prove to Heidi that it was a mistake to have appointed him Seeker, which would mean his being thrown off the team and Cedric taking his place as Seeker. Despite the urging of his friends, he couldn't really eat breakfast, only able to drink a cup of orange juice and take a few nibbles at a slice of toast. Even his guardians turning up towards the end of breakfast didn't help his nerves any.

"It's all right, James was nervous before his first match," Sirius said. "So was I, for that matter. We got over it once we started played, though."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do well, Harry," said Remus. "You've inherited your father's flying abilities, and you beat Charlie to the Snitch the last time you played against him, even if it was a friendly match."

"And your friends and the rest of Hufflepuff house support you and know you'll be great," added Ria. None of this cheered Harry up, however.

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch, most of them carrying binoculars. Harry's friends were up in the top row, with his guardians and Hagrid, and as a surprise for him, they had painted a large banner on a sheet that Lillian's cat had clawed. It said _Potter for President_ and Justin and Susan, who had some artistic talent, had drawn a large Hufflepuff badger underneath. Then Hermione had performed a tricky little charm so that the paint flashed different colors.

Meanwhile, in the locker room, Harry and the rest of the team were changing into their yellow Quidditch robes (Ravenclaw would be playing in blue).

Heidi cleared her throat for silence. "All right, guys, this is it. We are going to win this match! And do you know why? This is the best team Hufflepuff has had in years. We've got three excellent Chasers, which I suppose includes me, a fantastic Keeper, two great Beaters, and -" she paused significantly, "- the best Seeker that Hufflepuff, and probably all of Hogwarts, has ever had. So go out there and show Ravenclaw how fierce and skilled we Badgers can be!"

The rest of the team cheered, including Harry, who had perked up a bit at Heidi's words and so wasn't feeling quite as nervous. His nerves lessened even more and he felt braver when he followed the rest of the team out to the pitch and saw the banner his friends had made for him, high up above the crowd.

Madam Hooch was refereeing again, and after the two captains had shaken hands, she told both teams to mount their brooms and once they had done so, blew a sharp blast on her silver whistle, signalling the start of the match. Lee Jordan was doing the commentary, as usual, and since Gryffindor wasn't playing, he didn't show his usual bias, other than his comment that he hoped Hufflepuff might win, due to having Harry Potter on their team.

After ten minutes, the score was thirty-twenty, in Hufflepuff's favor, when Harry spotted the Snitch. In a great rush of excitement he dived downward after the streak of gold, the Ravenclaw Seeker, who had also spotted it, following him. Harry was faster, and so was pulling ahead when suddenly a Bludger came pelting at him. In his haste to avoid it, he got tangled with the Ravenclaw Seeker, and by the time the two had sorted themselves out, the Snitch had disappeared. The Hufflepuffs groaned in disappointment, while the Ravenclaws were pleased that one of their Beaters had stopped Harry from getting the Snitch.

It was as Harry dodged another Bludger, which went spinning dangerously past his head, that it happened. His broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped his broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd never felt anything like that.

It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off. But Nimbus Two Thousands did not suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Harry tried to turn towards Heidi - he had half a mind to ask her to call a time-out - and then he realized that his broom was completely out of his control. He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that almost unseated him.

No one seemed to have noticed the way Harry's broom was behaving strangely, other than his friends and guardians. "What is going on with Harry?" Sirius asked, staring through his Omnioculars. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he lost control of his Nimbus, but he can't have."

Suddenly people were pointing at Harry all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on. Then the whole crowd gasped. His broom had given a wild jerk and he swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on with only one hand.

"Don't distract me," Ria ordered the group around her. "Someone must be jinxing his broom and I'm going to do the counter." She gripped her wand in her hand and fixed her gaze at Harry, muttering nonstop under her breath.

Meanwhile, Harry's friends, Sirius, and Remus started scanning the crowd to see who could be jinxing the broom, which was starting to jerk less now that Ria was doing a counter-jinx. "Sniv-Snape!" exclaimed Sirius. "He's staring at Harry and muttering! He must be-"

"Stop that!" Remus snapped. "I know you dislike Snape, but for Lily's sake, he would never do anything to hurt Harry. He must be doing the counter-jinx too."

"How do you know?" Sirius retorted. "He could-"

"Professor Quirrell is also staring and muttering at Harry!" Hannah interrupted. "Since Harry trusts Snape, it's got to be Quirrell doing it!"

The others stared at her in surprise, except for Hermione, who said, "He's got to be stopped. Leave it to me." With that, she stood up and disappeared into the crowd.

While this was going on, Harry managed to grab on to his broom with his other hand as well, but it was still vibrating too much for him to clamber back on. The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as the Hufflepuff Beaters flew up to try and pull Harry safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no good - every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell, and the rest of the Hufflepuff team joined them, with Heidi and Cedric taking out their wands so that they could do a spell to slow Harry's fall if it happened. One of the Ravenclaw Chasers took the opportunity to seize the Quaffle and score while everyone was so distracted, but when he tried to do it again a second time, the other two Chasers on his team and the captain stopped him, admonishing him for not playing fair.

Hermione had fought her way across to the stand where Quirrell stood, and was now racing along the row behind him. Her first thought was to set the hem of his robe on fire, but not wishing to get caught and be in loads of trouble, she instead decided to do something else. As she raced by, she knocked Quirrell headfirst into the row in front, and without pausing at all, continued on her way, this time scrambling back to her friends.

It was enough. Up in the air, Harry was able to clamber back on his broom, and the Hufflepuff team, looking extremely relieved, went back to play, with Cedric and Heidi putting away their wands. There were cheers from the stands, and Sirius, who had his Omnioculars still trained on Quirrell (in record mode), saw the Defense teacher get back up, a look of anger on his face, which quickly disappeared and was replaced with a look of nervousness. Sirius frowned and replayed what he had just seen. Something was definitely up, and after showing Remus and Ria wha he's seen, he stowed his Omnioculars in his pocket so he could show Professor Dumbledore after the match.

Harry was making sure that there was nothing wrong with his broom when the Snitch happened to fly right in front his face, actually smacking him on the lips. His mouth fell open in surprise and the Snitch flew right in it as he was reaching up a hand to grab it. Since his mouth automatically started closing, the Snitch stopped midway, his teeth holding it in place, and he was able to grab the Snitch and pull it out.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

Since it wasn't against the rules for the Seeker to catch the Snitch in his mouth, Hufflepuff won, one hundred ninety points to fifty. The Hufflepuff team gathered around Harry, congratulating him on catching the Snitch and asking what had happened with his broom.

"I don't know," Harry said, but just at that moment, his friends and guardians reached them. For some reason, his guardians didn't look very happy.

"Someone was trying to jinx Harry's broom," said Sirius, not wishing to divulge who it actually was for the moment. "We are looking into it."

"The reason you didn't fall to your death was because I did a counterjinx," Ria added. "And I think one of the teachers was doing the same."

"But who would want to jinx Harry's broom?" asked Cedric.

"We are looking into it," Sirius repeated. "Thank you for your concern, guys, but as Harry's guardian in the wizarding world, I will discuss this with Professor Dumbledore and Professor Sprout and handle the matter. Why don't you go wash off and change and get started on a celebratory party. Harry will join you guys once I've spoken to him, okay?"

The rest of the team exchanged looks, then nodded and headed to the locker rooms. Hagrid offered his hut as a private place for Harry, his friends, and guardians to talk, and made some tea for everyone.

"From the looks of things, Professor Quirrell was jinxing your broom, Harry," said Ria. "Professor Snape must have noticed, because he was doing the counterjinx like I was."

"Once we realized what was going on, I went to put a stop to Quirrell," said Hermione. "I ran down the row behind him and knocked him over, so that he broke eye contact with you."

"But why would he be trying to kill or injure me?" asked Harry, looking confused. "He doesn't seem the type, even if we did wonder for a couple of seconds if maybe he let the troll in as a distraction."

"What do you mean?" asked Remus, since the hypothesis of Quirrell letting the troll in hadn't been mentioned in Harry's and Susan's letters.

"We figured out that the troll was let in for a distraction, probably so someone, maybe Quirrell, could go after whatever's being hidden at Hogwarts," answered Harry. "Professor Snape must have realized the same thing, because he went to check on the three-headed dog and got bit."

Hagrid dropped the teapot. "How do you know about Fluffy?" he asked incredulously.

" _Fluffy_?" the Hufflepuff Nine exclaimed together.

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the -"

"Yes?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Quirrell's trying to _steal_ it."

"That's enough, Harry," Ria said sternly. "We have no proof that he's after whatever's being hidden, just that he made an attempt on your life by jinxing your broom. And that matter will be brought to your Head of House, the Deputy Headmistress, and the Headmaster so that they investigate it."

"But Quirrell must have let the troll in!" Hermione protested. "It's suspicious that he wasn't there for the beginning of the Halloween feast and then just came running in to say that there was a troll in the dungeon. During the confusion of the students returning to the common rooms, he must've recovered from his faint, if it wasn't him pretending to pass out, and tried to steal whatever's being hidden. Professor Snape realized what was up and went to make sure it didn't happen, and in the process got bitten by Fluffy."

"Quirrell wouldn't do that!" Hagrid snapped. "He wouldn't go stealin' something Professor Dumbledore wants hidden. Now listen ter me, all nine of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don't concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel-"

"Aha!" said Harry. "So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself, while Ria and Remus gasped and exchanged looks. The latter cleared his throat. "Thank you, Hagrid, for the tea. It's time that we left. You Hufflepuffs, there's a celebratory party you should get to, and the rest of us need to speak with Dumbledore. Come on."

The Hufflepuff nine looked as if they wanted to get more answers, but reluctantly got up and followed the adults (minus Hagrid), out the hut. Once out of earshot, Ria said, "Since I know you are all bursting with curiosity, I will tell you who Nicolas Flamel is. He is an famous alchemist, and one of the few witches and wizards, like Morgana le Fay and Merlin, that are known in the Muggle world, though only as myths or legends. He created something, and I believe that what he created is what is being hidden at Hogwarts. Since you aren't supposed to know what it is, I won't say anything more, though I suspect you could find out after a search in the library."

Sirius gasped. "Oh! So that's what is hidden at Hogwarts! A-" Seeing the Look Ria and Remus shot him, he cut off whatever he was going to say. "Sorry guys. Remus and Ria would skewer me if I told, so I guess you'll just have to do a library search."

The group looked disappointed, but at least they had some idea of what to look for in order to find the answer. "Now, why don't you guys put this matter out of your head for the time being and go celebrate Hufflepuff's win?" Remus suggested. "We'll talk with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Sprout about all this, and Harry's broom being jinxed, and see what can be done. We might not be able to sack Quirrell right away, since we do need to find out what exactly he's up to, and as long as he's at Hogwarts, the other teachers can keep a close an eye on him."

The Hufflepuff Nine saw the sense of this, so they nodded in agreement and then set off for the Hufflepuff common room.

Author's Note: A thank you goes to reviewer POTTERPHILE, who reminded me that Susan, at least, would have notified her aunt about the third floor corridor. So I had Harry and Susan write their guardians about it in this chapter. According to Pottermore, the Mirror of Erised was languishing in the Room of Requirement for a century or so before Professor Dumbledore retrieved it to use as a hiding place for the Philosopher's Stone. Since Harry's not going to be wandering about Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays (as he'll be at home with his guardians), I decided to have him and his friends find the mirror in the Room shortly before Dumbledore takes it to modify as a hiding place. I originally didn't intend for Harry and co. to find Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem in first year, but while I was writing the scene in the RoR, it occurred to me that since this is an AU, I could have Hermione come across it, and as she probably would have seen a picture of the Founders in _Hogwarts, a History_ , recognize, or at least suspect, it for what it was. Also, I would like to thank all the people who have reviewed this fic. This story already has my interest, which is why I am updating this frequently, but reviews do inspire me to update quicker.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: Happy birthday to J. K. Rowling, her wonderful creation, Harry Potter, and Richard Griffiths (who played Uncle Vernon, may he RIP). Also, I was replacing the content of the previous chapter, since I spotted a small error (I had written 'over an over' instead of 'over an hour'). However, the first time I tried to do this, I accidentally posted it as a new chapter, and had to delete it. This is the actual 12th chapter.

On Monday, after lessons were over for the day, the Hufflepuff Nine went to the library and looked up books on alchemy. Hermione was the first one to find a reference to Nicolas Flamel (in a rather large tome that could have doubled as a doorstopper), and she read out loud the relevant passage, which explained that he was the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone.

"I remember learning in primary school that back in the Middle Ages, alchemists were trying to find a way to turn lead and other ordinary metals into gold," said Justin. "So the wizarding world actually figured out a way? Or at least one person did?"

"It looks like it," said Lillian. "It makes sense that someone would be after the Philosopher's Stone. Not only could you use it to become fabulously wealthy, but you could live as long as you wanted."

"But why would Quirrell of all people be after it?" wondered Susan. "He doesn't seem the type, though I suppose it could all be act. But does he hate teaching so much that he would want to a way to retire in wealth, or wish to extend his life?"

"Maybe there's more to it," said Ernie darkly. "Gabriel told us once that Professor Quirrell was the Muggle Studies teacher for a few years before he took last year off to gain practical experience so he could become the Defense teacher. I could ask Gabriel was Quirrell was like back then, since he's taking Muggle Studies."

However, when Ernie questioned Gabriel, there wasn't anything of real use. According to the prefect, Quirrell hadn't been anywhere near as nervous as he was now, though he was a little shy and timid at times. He appeared to be quite knowledgeable about the Muggle world, citing a Muggle parent, and had made his lessons interesting enough. None of that explained his current behavior, so the Hufflepuff Nine speculated that maybe something had happened during his year of gaining practical experience. Perhaps something had scared him so much that he didn't want to teach Defense anymore, but he wasn't able to resign since he needed to employment, and obviously he couldn't go back to his original job, as a new Muggle Studies had been hired in his place.

"But that doesn't explain why he attempted to kill or injure me by jinxing my broom," Harry pointed out. "Does he hate me or something, since Sirius saw, through his Omnioculars, Quirrell looking angry as he picked himself up, before he resumed his usual nervous look?"

The others shrugged, and Hannah said, "Well, at least that shows that Quirrell being scared of just about everything is an act. Besides, now that Professor Dumbledore is aware of things, he's keeping an especially close on Quirrell to find out what he's up to, and the other Heads are doing the same."

With that, the group decided to drop the matter for now, other than making sure to be on their guard and never letting Harry be alone with Quirrell.

* * *

Meanwhile, Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. (The Hufflepuff Nine found this hilarious, and a suitable punishment for his attempt on Harry.) The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nurse back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Hufflepuff common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows to the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons. The Hufflepuffs were very grateful for their individual warming pans, which ensured that they would be sleeping in warm beds.

Zacharias Smith, no doubt out of jealousy, was sour over Harry's performance at the Quidditch match. Malfoy wasn't too enthused, either, and went around school trying to to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. Then he realized that nobody (with the exception of a couple of like-minded Slytherins) found this funny, because they were all so impressed at the way that Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, and gone back to taunting Harry about being Hufflepuff (at least when there were no teachers or prefects around).

Harry ignored this, and focused more on his excitement on going home and spending Christmas with his guardians. Ron and his brothers would be there too, as their parents and sister Ginny were going to Romania to visit Charlie, and Aunt Ria insisted they visit rather than stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. Mr. Lovegood and Luna would be celebrating Christmas Day with them, like they had done last year, and so would the Bones, Longbottoms, and Grangers (they had celebrated the holidays together for the past three years). Hannah, Ernie, and Lillian all promised to Floo over during the holidays, and extended invitations to return the visits. Justin couldn't do any such thing, but he promised to write to them all.

Lillian's twelfth birthday was on December 17th (the only one in their group, besides Hermione, who had birthday in the first half of the school year.) Her friends had pooled their money together and gotten Gabriel to buy their presents for her during the last Hogsmeade visit (since only third-years and above were allowed to visit the village). She was quite touched when she unwrapped a book on Charms (her favorite subject), a small box of chocolate from the sweet shop Honeydukes, and a pale blue scarf during breakfast, and thanked her friends profusely.

The start of the holidays soon began, and those students that weren't staying behind packed up their things and boarded the Hogwarts Express for the return to London. The Hufflepuff Nine settled into a compartment at the end of the train, and spent the time talking about what they planned to do over the holidays as they played Exploding Snap and wizard chess (Ron, of course, won every chess match he played).

When the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and everyone disembarked, Harry spotted his guardians. He rushed forward and hugged his godfather tightly, then did the same with his _de facto_ godmother and honorary uncle.

"I take it you missed us?" Sirius asked, looking amused. "We missed you too."

"How have things been since you last wrote us, Harry?" Ria asked.

"It's been the same," replied Harry. "Well, Fred and George got detention for bewitching some snowballs to bounce off Quirrell's turban. And we celebrated Lil's birthday. Those are the only things that happened."

Sirius let out a bark of laughter and looked over at the Weasley twins. "You two actually did that? Good for you."

"Ron and Harry told us about Quirrell trying to jinx Harry's broom," Fred said.

"So we thought it would be a nice bit of revenge," said George.

"Just be careful," Remus warned. "Quirrell's up to something, and he could try to retaliate against you two for the snowballs."

Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione, and Susan wished their friends a good holiday and then left King's Cross. Susan went her own way with her aunt, Hermione left in her parents' car, and Neville left with his parents. Ria led the way to her own car, which Sirius had magically expanded on the inside (though this was technically illegal since only mass-produced products approved by the Ministry, such as trunks and tents, could have Extension Charms put on them) in order to accommodate the Weasleys and their trunks.

Once at Ria's home, the twins and Percy were installed in the two guest rooms, while Ron was sharing Harry's bedroom, which had a camp bed added for Ron to sleep on. "You guys get settled in," said Ria. "Remus and I will make dinner, and it should be ready in half an hour."

"And after dinner, you guys can decorate the tree," said Sirius. "We decorated the rest of the house, but left the tree."

Harry grinned upon hearing that, since decorating the tree was one of his favorite holiday activities. He helped Ron get settled in, and when dinner was ready, joined the others in the kitchen to eat.

The next day, Sirius and Remus took Harry and the Weasleys to Diagon Alley so they could take care of any Christmas shopping they still had to do. Neville, Hermione, and Mrs. Longbottom joined them. As Harry was trying to figure out what to get his friends, he recalled Sirius's story of the two-way mirrors that he and James used back in school, usually when they had separate detentions, and Remus's story of the spelled parchments the Marauders used so that they could communicate during class without having to pass notes. Perhaps Harry should get something along those lines for his friends so that they could contact each other. He went over to Sirius and Remus and had a whispered conversation with them to see if something like that could work.

On Christmas Day, Sirius woke up everyone in the house at six in the morning, the only time he ever got up early, due to his excitement. After everyone had gone to the bathroom and cleaned up a bit, they all gathered in the living room to open up presents.

Harry, with the help of his guardians (who had done the spellwork), had figured out what to get his friends. He had bought nine identical notebooks, and on the flyleaf of each had written the name of the destined owner. The first two pages were labeled as "Hufflepuff Nine", and were spelled so that anything written in them would appear in all the notebooks, to disappear once the contents were read. The following pages were each labeled with the name of the people in the group, and were spelled so that anything written on them would appear on the page of the corresponding book. For example, if Hermione wrote something to Justin, it would appear on the page labeled as his in his book. Harry doubted that the group would use the notebooks to send messages to each other during class (since Hermione and Ernie would object to that), but it would be useful for writing to each other during the winter and summer holidays.

With each notebook, Harry included a note explaining the use, a quill pen, and a bag of fruit drops in the shape of bells and Father Christmas hats. When Ron unwrapped his and read the note, he thanked Harry for the gift, as well as coming up with a way for their group to stay in contact. Shortly after that, Harry glanced in his notebook and saw that Hermione must have unwrapped hers as well, since there was a message from her, complimenting him for coming up with the idea and thanking him for the gift.

Harry wrote a quick reply, consisting of mainly "You're welcome and I'll see you later today, Hermione" and then turned his attention back to opening the rest of his presents. His guardians had gotten him a silver bracelet with runes for protection engraved on it, the latest _Redwall_ book, _Mariel of Redwall_ , and twenty Galleons. Hagrid had sent a wooden flute that he'd obviously whittled himself, Professor Snape sent a book on Potions, and Professor McGonagall's gift was a commonplace book for Harry to keep notes in. Mrs. Weasley's gift consisted of her usual hand-knitted sweater, this one an emerald green color, and a large box of homemade fudge. Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom got him a blank photo album to hold the photos he'd been taking with the camera he'd gotten for his birthday, Mr. and Mrs. Granger got him a hat and pair of gloves, and Madam Bones gifted him a biography on famed Seeker Josef Wronski.

The ones from his friends consisted of: the book _The Hobbit_ from Justin, an Appleby Arrows hat from Ernie, a badger pendent from Hannah, a book on defensive spells from Hermione, a box of Chocolate Frogs from Lillian, a box of Fizzing Whizbees from Ron, a poster of the current Appleby Arrows team from Neville, and an Appleby Arrows jersey from Susan. Fred and George gave Harry a couple of prank items and the Marauder's Map, which they had nicked out of Filch's cabinet of confiscated items back in their first year, saying, "As you are the son of a Marauder and the godson and honorary nephew of another two, this should go to you. We'd have given it to you for your birthday, but Mum would have thrown a fit if she'd known that we had it." Percy's present was a quill that he had made from a feather of his owl Hermes, Ginny's a box of toffee, and Luna's was a scarf knitted in rainbow colors.

After breakfast, Harry wrote thank-you notes to all his friends (other than Ron, who got his thanks in person) via his notebook, and got thank-yous back in reply the same way. The Grangers, Bones, and Longbottoms came over shortly after that, and Madam Bones, Mrs. Granger, and Mrs. Longbottom joined Ria in the kitchen to prepare the Christmas feast. Hermione, Susan, and Neville went with Harry and the Weasleys to the back yard to build snow forts and have a snowball fight, and Luna joined them an hour later when she and her father arrived.

Dinner was a splendid affair, with two large roast turkeys, a mountain of mashed potatoes with two boats of gravy, cranberry sauce, a tureen of buttered peas, a platter of chipolatas and another of apples, onions, and cabbage baked together, three mince pies, and four loaves of bread with two dishes of butter. For dessert was flaming plum pudding, a chocolate cake made in the shape of a Yule log with holly berries made of marzipan, and a trifle.

In the afternoon, there was another snowball fight, with Sirius and Remus joining in on it. Late afternoon there was a Christmas tea consisting of sandwiches made from the leftover turkey, crumpets, Christmas cake, and the leftover dessert. After that meal, just about everyone was feeling rather full and too tired to do much of anything. Ria and Mrs. Longbottom magically cleaned up the dishes and remains of the food, and then all the guests headed for their respective homes.


	13. Chapter 13

Ernie and Hannah were able to visit for the afternoon on Boxing Day, and Lillian dropped by for a three hours on the 28th. (The three of them Flooed to Neville's home, since that was easier than having to explain about Harry or why he was with his godparents.) Justin wrote every day in his notebook, mostly just a couple of paragraphs about what he was doing that day, and the rest of the group would write back about what they did.

All too soon the Christmas holidays ended and Harry had to return to Hogwarts. While he was a bit sad to have to leave home, he was also happy at returning to school. The Hufflepuff Nine began spending more time in the Room of Requirement, doing homework and learning Defense on their own through the book that Hermione had given Harry for Christmas, since they didn't trust Quirrell (his lessons weren't that great anyway). They also practiced the spells they were learning in class, and after Susan pointed out that it could be useful for them to be hidden in dangerous situations, they started learning the Disillusionment Charm. (After all, they couldn't all have access to an invisibility cloak, much less one like Harry's, and the ones not made from Demiguise hair were usually ordinary cloaks with Disillusionment Charms on them anyway.)

At the end of January, Ravenclaw and Slytherin had their Quidditch match. Ravenclaw narrowly won by twenty points. Meanwhile, the Hufflepuff team was practicing hard. They were doing quite well during practices, which pleased Heidi, who said again that they would most likely win the Quidditch Cup this year. Four days before Valentine's Day, however, she announced that Professor Snape, of all people, was going to be refereeing their match that Saturday. "It's possible that he will favor us, simply because he doesn't like Gryffindor and wouldn't mind seeing them lose, but that's not something any of you should want to happen. So please just focus on doing your best and not do anything that could cause Professor Snape to favor us, all right?"

The rest of the team nodded, and Harry wondered if Professor Snape was refereeing in order to prevent a repeat of what happened in Hufflepuff's match against Ravenclaw. At the end of Potions class on Thursday, Harry stayed behind on the pretense of having a question about the potion they had made in class, and after asking, Professor Snape confirmed the reason he was refereeing.

On the day of the match, Ria, Sirius, and Remus came to watch again, and Professor Dumbledore was present as well, so perhaps Snape didn't really need to referee after all, since Quirrell could hardly try anything with the headmaster watching. On the other hand, it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

Gryffindor managed to score twice, and Hufflepuff scored once (Snape had awarded Hufflepuff a penalty after Fred had hit a Bludger at him). That was when Harry spotted the Snitch and went streaking after it. The Gryffindor Seeker saw him a few seconds later and followed him, but he got to the Snitch first and caught it. The stands erupted; it had to be a record, no one could ever remember the Snitch being caught so quickly.

Harry jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground, as the rest of his team gather around him ecstatically. He couldn't believe it; the game was over, it had barely lasted five minutes. As the other Hufflepuffs and his guardians came spilling out onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and impassive. For one brief second, a look of grudging pride was in Snape's eyes, and then he resumed his normal expression and turned away with a curt nod of his head.

"Congratulations, Harry!" exclaimed Sirius happily. "I can't believe you caught the Snitch so quickly."

"I think you broke the record at Hogwarts for fastest Snitch capture," added Ria with a smile. "The fastest one before you was five minutes and forty-seven seconds, while yours was under five and half minutes."

"James and Lily would have been very proud of you," Remus said with a wistful smile.

Harry spent the next hour being made much of by his friends and housemates, who even lifted him on their shoulders and ran around the pitch with him for one lap. After that, he went to the locker rooms to change. When he came out to put his Nimbus Two Thousand in the broomshed, he was alone. He couldn't ever remember feeling happier, not even on his birthdays and Christmas. He'd really done something to be proud of now - no one could say he was just a famous name any more. The evening air had never smelled so sweet.

Harry had reached the shed. He leaned against the wooden door and looked up at Hogwarts, with its windows glowing red in the setting sun. Hufflepuff was in the lead. He'd done it, and Quirrell hadn't attempted to do anything against him, not with Dumbledore and Snape watching. And speaking of Snape...

A hooded figure came swiftly down the front steps of the castle. Clearly not wanting to be seen, it walked as fast as possible toward the forbidden forest. Harry's victory faded from his mind as he watched. He recognized the figure's prowling walk. Snape, sneaking into the forest while everyone else was at dinner - what was going on?

Harry jumped back on his Nimbus Two Thousand and took off. Gliding silently over the castle he saw Snape enter the forest at a run. He followed.

The trees were so thick he couldn't see where Snape had gone. He flew in circles, lower and lower, brushing the top branches of trees until he heard voices. He glided toward them and landed noiselessly in a towering beech tree. He climbed carefully along one of the branches, holding tight to his broomstick, trying to see through the trees.

Below, in a shadowy clearing, stood Snape, but he wasn't alone. Quirrell was there, too. Harry couldn't make out the look on his face, but he was stuttering worse than ever. Harry strained to catch what they were saying, wondering if Snape had decided to confront Quirrell.

"...d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet here of all p-places, Severus..."

"Oh, I though we'd keep this private," said Snape, his voice icy. "Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone, after all."

Harry leaned forward. Quirrell was muttering something. Snape interrupted him. "Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I -"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell," said Snape, taking a step toward him.

"I-I don't know what you -"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

An owl hooted loudly, and Harry nearly fell out of the tree. He steadied himself in time to hear Snape say, "- your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't-"

"Very well," Snape cut in. "We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."

He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Harry could see Quirrell, standing quite still and with a look of pure anger on his face.

Some time later, Harry made his way back to the castle. As he headed for the basement area, his friends ran into him. "Harry, where have you _been_?" Hermione squeaked.

"We won! You won! We won!" shouted Ron, thumping Harry on the back. "You should have seen the sour look on Malfoy's face when you caught the Snitch. And Smith looked angry and muttered about how this would make you even more insufferable, but Ernie hit him with a Pimple Jinx."

"Everyone's waiting for you in the common room," Hannah added. "We're having having a party, the prefects got some cakes and other food from the kitchens."

"Never mind that now," said Harry breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room, you all wait 'til you hear this..."

He made sure that Peeves wasn't inside before shutting the door behind them, then he told them what he'd seen and heard. "So we were right, it _is_ the Philosopher's Stone, and Quirrell is after it. Snape must have been trying to find out how much he knows, and see if he could be scared off. And Quirrell's stuttering and fear is definitely a mask, because he looked so angry once Snape had left. I was afraid that he was going to do something drastic, or at least let off a few spells, but then he got a hold of himself and left too."

The others looked alarmed. "It doesn't look like Quirrell was scared off," Justin said. "From the sound of things, Snape's talk just made him angry."

"But what can we do?" Susan pointed out. "We're just first years. Besides, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore has things well in hand."

"Yes, but keep in mind that he asked Ron and Neville to befriend me so that I could be steered in the 'right direction'," Harry pointed out. "Of course, they were already my friends and had no intention of steering me in any direction, but that's beside the point."

"Yeah, but a couple of days after school started, we got a note from Dumbledore to disregard his previous instructions and to just be good and loyal friends to you if that was what we wanted," Neville said. "And obviously your guardians trust him to deal with this."

"I suppose," Harry conceded. "But I'm still going to write to them about what just happened."

"All right," said Ernie. "If that's what you want to do. Now let's go to your celebratory party before the other Hufflepuffs wonder what's going on with you."

* * *

During the following weeks, Quirrell seemed to be getting paler and thinner, but he didn't show of any sign of cracking. From the sound of things, Fluffy was still growling inside the third-floor corridor, and Snape, in his usual bad temper, was still keeping an eye on Quirrell, along with the other Heads. Ria sent a letter to Harry telling him to let the adults handle the matter and just focus on schoolwork and being with his friends. Remus sent another letter, saying the exact same thing, and Sirius's letter suggested pranks that Harry could play, or if he didn't want to do so, to pass the suggestions along to the Weasley twins.

Hermione agreed with Ria and Remus, and focused her attention on schoolwork. She had started drawing up study schedules and color-coding all her notes. Her friends wouldn't have minded, but she kept nagging them to do the same.

"Hermione, the exams are ages away," Harry pointed out.

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway, what are you studying for, you already know it all."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a moth ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."

"Hermione, I agree with you that the exams are important, but this is going overboard," Lillian said. "Studying a month before the exams is reasonable, but not this."

"And you will have no problem passing the exams, Hermione," Susan pointed out. "You were the top student in primary school, and you're the top student at Hogwarts. You read ahead constantly, know all the theory, can get any spell faster than us, other than some Defensive spells, which is where Harry can sometimes beat you in, and nobody's better than you in any of our classes besides Neville in Herbology."

None of this really calmed Hermione down, though she admitted that she was good enough to pass the exams before adding that she didn't just want to pass, but to the best she possibly could. Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter holidays weren't nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax with Hermione next to you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practicing wand movements. Ernie caught her worry over the exams and joined in on the studying, so the rest of the Hufflepuff Nine spent of their free time in the library or the Room of Requirement with the two, trying to get through all their extra work.

"I'll never remember this," Ron burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out of the library window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months. The sky was a clear, forget-me-not blue, and there was a feeling in the air of summer coming.

Harry, who was looking up "Dittany" in _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ , didn't look up until he heard Neville say, "Hagrid! What are you going in the library?"

Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat. "Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "An' what're you lot up to?"

"Studying for our end-of-year exams," Hannah replied.

"Want ter do well on 'em, I'm guessin'," said Hagrid, nodding. "Tha's good."

"What are you up to, Hagrid?" Harry asked. "Did Aunt Ria or Uncle Sirius talk to you about Quirrell being after the Philosopher's -"

" _Shhhh_!" Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. "Don't go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"Sorry, Hagrid, we just wondered if you'd been updated, since you're a friend of the family and all," Harry apologized.

"Listen, come an' see me later," said Hagrid firmly. "Don't go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren't s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh -"

"It was Aunt Ria who told us where to look, not you," said Harry, but he didn't persist and instead he and his friends agreed to visit later. Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" asked Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had something to do with the Stone?" Lillian added.

"I'm going to see what section he was in," said Ron, who had enough of working. He got up and came back a minute later with a pile of books in their arms and slammed them down on the table.

" _Dragons_!" he whispered. "Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons. Look at these: _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide_."

"Well, Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so when I properly met him when I was four or five," said Harry.

"Yeah, but it's against our laws," Ron reminded him. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles from noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden - anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"There aren't any wild dragons in _Britain_ , are there?" asked Justin nervously.

"Of course there are," answered Ron. "Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget."

"So what in Merlin's name is Hagrid up to?" Susan wondered. "He can't have gotten his hands on a dragon or dragon egg. Can he?"

"Knowing Hagrid, he could have," said Harry, a feeling of dread creeping up his spine. The others exchanged worried looks.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them. It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So - yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"

"Yes, did Aunt Ria or Uncle Sirius talk to you about Quirrell being after the Stone?" Harry asked.

Hagrid nodded. "I didn' really believe them at first, but then they told me about what Professor Snape an' Dumbledore found out. 'Course, I have no idea why Professor Quirrell would want ter steal it, but Sirius an' Ria think he's got his reasons, an' Dumbledore agrees with 'em."

"Quirrell won't be able to steal it, will he?" Hannah asked anxiously. "I mean, you're the only one that knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid? You wouldn't tell anyone else."

"O' course not," Hagrid said, half indignantly, half proudly. "Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore, an' it'll stay that way."

"Good," said Neville. "We know you're trustworthy. Hagrid, can we open a window? It's boiling in here."

"Can't, Neville, sorry," said Hagrid, glancing at the fire. The Hufflepuff Nine looked at it too.

"Oh no, you didn't actually get your hands on a dragon egg!" Hermione exclaimed, bending over to look at the huge, black egg in the heart of the fire and underneath the kettle.

"Where did you get it, Hagrid?" inquired Ron, joining Hermione for a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it once it's hatched?" Lillian asked.

"Well, I've bin doin' some readin'," responded Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. "Got this outta the library - _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit_ \- it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - how ter recognize diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them." He looked very pleased with himself, but Hermione didn't.

"Hagrid, you live in a _wooden house_ ," she said. But Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

So now they had something else to worry about; what might happen to Hagrid if anyone found out he was hiding an illegal dragon in his hut. When the Hufflepuff Nine weren't busy with homework, or Harry with Quidditch practice, they had conversations in the Room of Requirement about how to convince Hagrid that raising a dragon hatchling was a bad idea. Finally, Neville suggested that Harry write his guardians, who would be sure to come up with something without getting Hagrid in trouble. (Susan, Neville, Lillian, and Ron couldn't, as they had parents/guardians working in the Ministry, and the others all had parents that either couldn't help or would feel compelled to notify the authorities.)

"Good idea," said Harry. "Maybe Aunt Ria can come down and talk some sense into Hagrid, or Uncle Sirius can convince him that the dragonet belongs with its own kind and arrange to ship it off to a dragon preserve or something." He wrote the letter and sent it off via Hedwig that evening.

The following evening, he got a reply back. " _I don't know what Hagrid was thinking, but we will handle the matter, Harry,_ " Ria wrote. " _Remus is sending a letter to Charlie Weasley, to ask if the Romanian Dragon Preserve can take on a hatchling. You can visit Hagrid and try to convince him that it would be in the hatchling's best interest to grow up with its own kind. In any case, we will be down at Hogwarts for your Quidditch match against Slytherin, and after that, we will talk with Hagrid and smuggle the hatchling out of the grounds. Sirius will arrange for the transfer to Romania. It is a good thing that you wrote to us about it, Harry. Don't spend all your free time studying, since it's not healthy. Make sure to take a ten-minute break every couple of hours. Love, Aunt Ria_ "

"That's a relief," said Harry. "We can visit Hagrid tomorrow and try to convince him that it's better for the dragonet to be with its own kind."

The next day, at breakfast, Neville's owl brought the group another note from Hagrid. He had written only two words, " _It's hatching_." Ron wanted to skip Herbology and go straight down to the hut, but Hermione and Ernie wouldn't hear of it.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing," Hermione said severely.

"Not to mention how odd or suspicious it would look if all nine of us just skipped class," Lillian pointed out. "Especially as we're all in one h-"

"Shut up!" Harry hissed. Malfoy was only a few feet away and he had stopped dead to listen, and Smith had just come out of the Great Hall and was looking at them. The latter couldn't have heard anything so far, but the former must have heard something. But how much had he heard was the question. Harry didn't like the look on Malfoy's face at all.

On the way to Herbology, Lillian's point that it would be odd if they all skipped class made Ron back down, but the group decided to run to Hagrid's during the morning break, especially since they did have to talk to him. When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the nine of them dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside. The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it. They all drew close to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. It wasn't exactly pretty; Harry thought it looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulding, orange eyes. It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he _beautiful_?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs. "Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!"

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face - he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?" asked Ernie, turning around to look behind him.

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains - it's a kid - he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Harry bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him. Malfoy had been spying on them.

Susan, who was right behind Harry, said uncertainly, "Maybe Malfoy didn't see the dragon. Ernie, Neville, Lil, and I were standing right in front of the side of the table that's closest to the window. So maybe we could have blocked his view so that he didn't get a good look before Hagrid spotted him."

"Even if he didn't see the dragon, he still knows that something is up," Harry pointed out, a worried look on his face. He shut the door and turned to Hagrid. "I wrote to my guardians about this. They think that your dragon hatchling belongs with his own kind, Hagrid. Remus wrote to Charlie to see if the Romanian Dragon Preserve can take the hatchling, and Sirius will make the arrangements to send him there."

Hagrid was uncertain, but after much persuasion from the Hufflepuff Nine, agreed to it, especially as he'd still have a few days to spend with the hatchling, which he decided to name Norbet (since the match wasn't until Saturday).

For the rest of the week, the Hufflepuff Nine were praying that Hagrid wouldn't be caught. It didn't look as if Malfoy had actually seen the dragon, but he clearly knew something was up, because he tried intimidating Neville into telling him what was going on with Hagrid. Neville, however, wasn't that easily intimidated, and snapped at Malfoy to back off. The rest of the Hufflepuff Nine showed up then, and Malfoy, seeing that he was outnumbered, stalked off.

The day of the watch dawned bright and sunny. Harry's guardians came to cheer him on, and Professor Dumbledore was in the stands again. The match was longer than the previous one, though it still lasted only sixteen minutes. Harry did spot the Snitch five minutes in, but Marcus Flint (the Slytherin captain and one of the Chasers), purposely blocked him. In the confusion, the Snitch disappeared, while many of the spectators shouted their anger at the foul and Madam Hooch awarded Hufflepuff a penalty. Finally Harry spotted the Snitch again ten minutes later, and caught it before Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs could. Hufflepuff won, two hundred points to forty.

After the match, Sirius and Remus went to go talk with Hagrid and arrange for Norbert's removal from the Hogwarts grounds, while Ria spoke with Harry and made sure that he was doing well. An hour later, they left, and a couple of days later, Harry got a letter from Sirius saying that Norbert had been sent off with some friends of Charlie's that were going to visit him at the dragon preserve. Relieved that the matter had been taken care of, Harry was able to focus all of his attention back on his schoolwork and studying for exams.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note: Anyway, today is my birthday, and as a birthday treat, I am posting the next chapter.

A week later, Harry went to visit Hagrid, mainly to make sure that the gamekeeper had gotten over having to give up Norbert. Hagrid had gotten over it, and said that Sirius had passed on a letter from Charlie reporting that Norbert had arrived safely at the preserve and was settling in nicely.

"That's good, Hagrid," said Harry, smiling. He drank his tea and listened to Hagrid tell a story of his catching James and Sirius trying to sneak into the forbidden forest for the next half hour. "Thanks for the story. I've got some more studying to do, so I'll go now, but I'll visit another day."

A week before exams were due to start, the Hufflepuff Nine dropped in on Hagrid again. This time, the gamekeeper looked rather upset and preoccupied, and when they asked what was wrong, he explained that he had found a dead unicorn the previous Wednesday, and this morning he had found signs of another one that was injured. He had reported it to Professor Dumbledore, and that night he was going to do a thorough search of the forest for the injured unicorn.

"That's awful!" Lillian gasped. "What could have killed a unicorn and injured another, Hagrid?"

"I dunno," said Hagrid, looking worried. "It's not easy ter catch a unicorn, they're powerful magic creatures. I never knew one ter be hurt before."

The others exchanged looks, and when they returned to the castle, went to the library and looked up some books on unicorns. Harry found out that unicorn blood could keep a person alive, even at death's door, but because it involved the death or injury of a pure and defenseless creature, the person would have a cursed life the moment the blood touched his or her lips.

After Harry told the others this, Justin asked, "Who would be that desperate then? I mean, death would be much better, if you're going to be cursed forever."

"I'm sure some people wouldn't care," Hannah said, looking scared. "In fact, someone like You-Know-Who would -"

"That's it!" Harry exclaimed. "I think I've figured things out." He had them all go to the Room of Requirement so that they could talk in private. "Hannah, you said that someone like Voldemort wouldn't care. Well, I think it is him attacking the unicorns."

"But he's dead," Ernie protested. "You defeated him, Harry."

"Just because I defeated him doesn't mean he's dead," Harry said. "Uncle Sirius told me that Voldemort wasn't just looking to rule over wizarding Britain and get rid of Muggles and Muggleborns. He also wanted to live forever. So Voldemort must have done something towards that, so when he was defeated, he just lost his body and his power, but his spirit or whatever is still around."

"That makes sense," said Ernie thoughtfully, while the other digested this information.

"Then Voldemort's shade must be using unicorn's blood to sustain himself," Hermione said after a minute. "And maybe Quirrell's not after the Philosopher's Stone, at least not for himself. He could be working for Voldemort and trying to steal the Stone in order to use it to bring him back to power."

"Does that mean You-Know-Who's in the forest?" asked Lillian, face pale. The others looked scared as well.

"Probably, if he's the one that's been attacking unicorns for their blood," said Ron. "What do we do?"

"We won't do anything," Hermione said severely. "We're just first years and won't be able to stop Voldemort, even if he's just a shade."

"The only thing we can do is report our speculations to Professor Dumbledore," said Susan. "And I can write Auntie Amelia about it, and Harry can write to his guardians."

However, when Harry spoke with Dumbledore, the headmaster just assured him that the protections on the Stone would keep Quirrell and Voldemort from ever getting it, or at least the one that Dumbledore put up definitely would. "It is possible that they could get past the defenses Hagrid and the Heads of House put up, and definitely the one that Quirrell did, but they won't get past mine, Mr. Potter. Also, I am keeping a very close eye on Quirrell."

Both Madam Bones and Harry's guardians wrote in their letters that they were working with the headmaster on this matter, and told Harry and Susan to just focus on passing their exams. "Well, I suppose we should let the adults deal with this," said Harry, though he didn't sound happy. "At least they are taking the matter seriously, though I would have thought they'd be more upset at the danger to the school."

"It's not unheard of that something valuable would be hidden at Hogwarts," Hermione pointed out. "It's just very rare. And we do need to focus on our exams, or we won't pass and end up either having to repeat first year or getting expelled from school."

Harry admitted that she had a point, and tried to focus his attention back on his studies. The only problem was that whenever he was around Quirrell, his scar would hurt, and he started having nightmares of his parents' murders. Originally, all he could remember was a couple of flashes of green light (which Aunt Ria had told him was the Killing Curse), but now his dreams consisted of his parents disappearing in a flash of green light while a high voice cackled with laughter. Occasionally his mother would scream or beg for Harry's life before she disappeared.

In the years to come, Harry would never quite remember how he got through his exams when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment, not to mention the stabbing pains in his scar distracting him. Yet the days crept by, and there could be no doubt that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door. It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell.

They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuffbox - points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them all nervous, breathing down their necks while they (in a bit of irony) tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness Potion.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up the parchment, Harry couldn't help cheering with the rest.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds flocking out onto the sunny grounds. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Hermione always liked to go through their exam papers afterward, but Ron said this made him feel ill, so the Hufflepuff Nine wandered down to the lake and flopped under a large tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows.

"No more studying," Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet."

Harry was rubbing his forehead. "I wish I knew what this _means_!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Why don't you go see Madam Pomfrey?" Hannah suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "And I've already asked Aunt Ria about my scar hurting and the only thing she could come up with was that maybe it's some sort of warning, like that danger's coming or that there's something or someone evil about."

"Harry, relax, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around," said Ron. "Quirrell hasn't found out how to get past Fluffy, so he's not going after the Stone anytime soon. And Justin will play Quidditch for England, no offense, Justin, before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

"None taken," said Justin, who knew that he wasn't very good at flying.

Harry nodded, but he couldn't shake off a lurking feeling that there was something he'd forgotten to do, something important. When he tried to explain this, Hermione said, "That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd done that one."

"Why don't we go visit Hagrid?" Susan suggested. "I'm sure he'd be happy to see us, and we can see if he's gotten any more news about Norbert."

At the mention of Norbert, Harry gasped, realizing something. "Yes, we must see Hagrid at once!" The other stared at him as he jumped to his feet. "Come on, guys!" he snapped impatiently. "Don't any of you think it's a bit odd that a stranger turns up who just happens to have a dragon egg in his pocket, when a dragon is what Hagrid wants more than anything else? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

Neville, Ron, and Hannah still looked a bit confused, but the others understood what Harry was getting at and explained to the three as they scrambled up the grassy slope towards Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl. "Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink."

They shook their heads and Harry immediately began questioning him about the night he won Norbert. Hagrid hadn't seen what the stranger looked like, as the man had kept his cloak on, with the hood up. When the Hufflepuff Nine looked surprised at this, Hagrid explained that it wasn't unusual, as one often got a lot of funny folk at the Hog's Head, one the pubs in the village. He then told them about what they had talked about, and it turned out after several drinks, he had mentioned Fluffy when assuring the stranger that he could handle a dragon, even letting slip that playing a bit of music would put Fluffy to sleep.

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified. "I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted. "Forget I said it! Hey - where're yeh lot going?"

The Hufflepuff Nine ran off towards the castle, not saying anything until they came to the entrance hall. "We've got to tell Dumbledore," said Neville. "He needs to know that Quirrell or Voldemort, whomever was under that cloak, knows how to get past Fluffy and will be after the Stone soon."

Hermione nodded. "Come on, Professor Dumbledore's office is-" she began, but a voice suddenly ran across the hall.

"What are you three doing inside?" It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books.

"We were going to see Professor Dumbledore," Susan replied.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

"Erm, it has to do with what's being hidden at the school," answered Harry. "Professor Dumbledore asked us to keep him updated if we found out anything."

"So you're the ones that figured out Professor Quirrell was after it?" asked Professor McGonagall, one brow raised. "I thought Sirius, Ria, and Remus were the ones that realized it."

Harry shook his head. "We deduced a few things, and after I spoke with my guardians, they helped me clear some things up and spoke with Professor Dumbledore about it."

"I see," said Professor McGonagall. "Well, you won't be able to see Professor Dumbledore at the moment. He left ten minutes ago. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

"He's _gone_?" said Harry frantically. " _Now_? We just found out that Quirrell or Voldemort knows how to get past Fluffy and will be able to go after-"

"That's enough, Mr. Potter," interrupted McGonagall sternly. "There are more protections than the Cerberus on the Stone, so Quirrell wouldn't be able to steal it even if he knows how to get past the first one. There is no need to worry, so I suggest you and your friends go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

However, they didn't. Harry sought out Professor Snape, who happened to be coming down the hall, and told him what he'd found out. "Thank you for telling me this, Mr. Potter. However, I don't think you need to worry. The Stone is very well protected, and I will keep an eye on Quirrell."

Harry tried to protest that he felt that there was more to this, but Snape snapped that the matter was closed and if Harry didn't stop pestering him about it, he'd take points from Hufflepuff. Once Snape had strode off, Harry turned to his friends. "Meet in the Room of Requirement so we can discuss this among us," he said. "I've got to get something." He ran to his dorm room and grabbed his invisibility cloak, the flute Hagrid had given him for Christmas, and the Marauder's Map, and then headed for the Room of Requirement.

"Erm, Harry, maybe you should listen to Professors McGonagall and Snape," Lillian said hesitantly. "The Stone is well protected, and Snape's keeping an eye on Quirrell."

"That doesn't mean that Quirrell can't give Snape the slip or that he hasn't figured out how to get past all the protections!" Harry snapped. "And Dumbledore's not at Hogwarts, either! I bet Quirrell sent the note to get Dumbledore out of the way."

"But what are we going to do then?" asked Ernie. "You can't write to your guardians, because it'd be too late by the time they got the letter and sent you a reply back, and we're just first years."

" _We're_ not doing anything," Harry responded. "I will. Voldemort's my enemy, and I will do my best to stop him. I've got the Marauder's Map, so I can see when Quirrell is going to go after the Stone, and then I'll go after him and try to stop him."

"Oh come off it, Harry," Ron snapped. "You're not stopping him on your own. I'm sure the nine of us will be able to overpower him, since he's not going to be able to take all of us on at once."

"This isn't your fight!" Harry retorted. "It's mine! Besides, I don't want you guys to be expelled for doing this!"

"Harry James Potter!" Susan said angrily. "We are your friends and will not abandon you! We are going to help you fight Quirrell and Voldemort. Remember those _Redwall_ books you've read? Matthias may have been the one to actually defeat Cluny the Scourge, but his friends and allies all helped him fight Cluny's underlings so that Matthias could face Cluny! Or take _Lord of the Rings_. Frodo had to take the One Ring to be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, but the rest of the Fellowship helped him get there, especially his best friend and closest companion, Samwise Gamgee!"

"Susan's right," Neville said. "And like the Fellowship, there are nine of us." Seeing the confused looks on Ernie's, Hannah's, and Lillian's faces, he briefly explained to them about the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy and the _Redwall_ series.

"This isn't a fantasy book, this is real life!" Harry snapped. "Voldemort's dangerous and I'm not going to let you guys-"

"Let us?" Justin interrupted. "When did we become your servants, needing your permission to do anything? You can't stop us from helping you."

"If anything, you need us," Lillian said. "How do you expect to get past the protections on your own? You might have the flute to help you get past Fluffy, but what about the others? Let's see, Neville and Hannah are the best of us in Herbology, so they would know how to get past whatever Professor Sprout set up. I'm better than you at Charms, and so's Hermione, so we can take care of whatever Professor Flitwick did. For Professor McGonagall, Hermione can do something again, and so can Susan and Justin, since they're also good at Transfiguration. Quirrell would probably neutralize whatever protection he set up, and Ernie and Hermione can handle whatever potions Professor Snape set up. Finally, Ron knows strategy, so he can handle that aspect of the protections."

"Fine!" snapped Harry, giving in with ill grace. It was clear that his friends wouldn't be talked out of going with him, so he stopped trying to convince him otherwise. The nine of them spent the afternoon reviewing spells in preparation for the ordeal tonight.


	15. Chapter 15

After dinner, the Hufflepuff Nine went back to the Room of Requirement, looking up spells and practicing, with them taking turns every couple of minutes to look at the Marauder's Map. An hour later, Hermione said, "Harry, are completely sure you want to do this? Professor Snape said he was keeping a close eye on Quirrell, and Professor Dumbledore told you that there was no way Quirrell or Voldemort could get past his protection."

"Quirrell can give Professor Snape the slip," Harry pointed out. "And considering how powerful Voldemort is, he could figure out a way past Dumbledore's protection. The Headmaster isn't perfect, after all. But if you've got second thoughts, then you're free to not come with me, Hermione. I'd rather you didn't."

Hermione looked indignant. "Harry James Potter, I'm not going to abandon you! Hufflepuffs stick together. I just think you shouldn't be doing this."

"I'm doing this," Harry said stubbornly. "Professor McGonagall wasn't taking me seriously enough. How can she think telling me to not worry is going to keep me from being worried? Even Professor Snape told me that I didn't need to worry! If it involves Voldemort, how can I _not_ be worried?"

"But it does look like you don't trust the teachers to properly protect the Stone," Hannah said timidly. "At least Professor Dumbledore's protection-"

"Hannah, that's not the point," Harry interrupted. "They could be the strongest protections in the world and Voldemort would still attempt to break them or get past them in order to get his hands on the Stone. I have to stop him from doing so. You don't have to come with me."

"Like Hermione said, Hufflepuffs stick together," Hannah said. "Don't try to talk us out of coming with you again, Harry."

Two hours later, Justin was looking at the Marauder's Map. "Professor Snape is following Quirrell. But there's something odd. There's a second name next to Quirrell's dot, and it's Tom Riddle."

The others gathered around him to look at the Map. "That's odd. Why would there be two names?" asked Ernie.

"I've heard that possession is possible," said Susan. "Maybe Quirrell is being possessed and that's why there are two names?"

"That's possible," said Ron thoughtfully. "But then who's Tom Riddle, and why would he possess Quirrell?"

"I saw that name in the trophy room once," Lillian said. "I think it was on an award for Special Services to Hogwarts or something."

"So he was once a student at Hogwarts," said Neville. "That still doesn't tell us why he's possessing Quirrell."

Hermione asked the Room to provide a book on well-known alumni of Hogwarts and then started flicking through it. "I've found Tom Riddle! He was in Slytherin, was named prefect and Head Boy, and got his award for discovering the culprit responsible for accidentally causing the death of another student. Hmm, it says that after graduation, he went on to work at a store called Borgin and Burkes, and after that, he disappeared from public view, though there are rumors that he may have become Voldemort."

"Wait, Tom Riddle became You-Know-Who?" gasped Justin. "But how is that possible?"

"Do you really think Voldemort was his real name?" Hermione asked. "It's French for 'Flight of Death'. We know that he was a Slytherin, so this Tom Riddle could have decided to take on a name that sounded scary and more important once he became the Dark Lord."

"That makes sense," said Ernie. "But-"

"Hey, look at the Map!" Harry interrupted. "While we were talking, Quirrell and Riddle went to the forbidden corridor. And Snape's dot isn't moving, so I bet they Stunned him or something to keep him from stopping them. We'd better go."

Harry, Lilian, and Susan, being the smallest, covered themselves up in the invisibility cloak, while Hermione put the rest under the Disillusionment Charm. On the way to the third-floor corridor, they came across the body of Snape. Hermione bent down and after a quick check, said, "He's still alive. You were right, Harry. It looks like Snape was Stunned. Do you want me to try and revive him? I know the spell, but I've never done it before."

"You'd better not," said Harry. "If you've never done the spell before, something could go wrong. Here, I'll write a note to McGonagall and send it to her. Uncle Sirius taught me the spell to turn it into the paper airplanes that the Ministry uses to send memos." He dug out a piece of parchment and a Muggle pen from his pocket, scribbled a note letting McGonagall know that Snape was Stunned on the fourth-floor corridor, and folded it into a paper airplane, which he then set the spell on. It went flying off, and Harry got back under the invisibility cloak and the group set off again.

When they got to the third-floor corridor, it was clear that Quirrell had already gotten past Fluffy, since there was no sign of him except for a harp in the corner. Harry asked the others if they wanted to turn back, but they all refused, so Susan started playing the flute to make Fluffy fall asleep while the rest went to the trapdoor. "I'll go down first," said Harry, staring down at the dark depths. The others tried to protest, but he cut them off. "Voldemort is my business. Sure, the Fellowship helped, but it was still Frodo's job to destroy the One Ring in Mount Doom. Anyway, if anything happens to me after I jump down, don't follow. Just get McGonagall and send a letter to Dumbledore and my guardians."

The others reluctantly agreed and Harry lowered himself through the trapdoor and dropped. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and - FLUMP. With a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Ron followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Harry. "What's this stuff?" were his first words.

"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on, guys!" Ron and Harry moved over as the others dropped down, one by one.

"We must be miles under the school," said Susan, the last to drop.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

At those words, Neville, Hermione, Susan, and Ernie became suspicious and leapt up, struggling toward a damp wall. "Did you forget?" Neville screeched. "Professor Sprout did one of the protections, and obviously it would be a plant!" The others realized what he was getting at, but unfortunately, when they tried to move, they realized that the plant had wound snakelike tendrils around their legs without their noticing and they were now bound tightly.

Neville, Hermione, Susan, and Ernie managed to free themselves before the plant got a firm grip on them. "Stop moving!" Neville ordered, just as Hannah did exactly that. "It's a Devil's Snare!"

"Just try to relax," added Hannah. "That'll slow down it's grabbing of us."

"Oh, and how do you expect us to do that?" Ron inquired sarcastically, leaning back and trying to stop the plant from curling around his neck.

"Shut up!" Neville snapped. "I'm trying to remember how to- that's it, it likes the dark and damp, so a fire will put it off! Hermione and Susan, you're best at that, so light a fire."

Susan raised her wand, but Hermione cried, "But there's no wood!" as she wrung her hands.

Susan gave her an incredulous look, while Ernie shouted, "For Merlin's sake, Hermione, you're a witch! Get it together!"

"Oh right," said Hermione, her cheeks turning pink while she raised her wand and joined Susan in conjuring up bluebell flames and shooting them at the Devil's Snare. In a matter of seconds, the five that were caught by the plant felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free.

"I guess I did need you guys," Harry admitted once he was free. "Neville and Hannah knew about the plant, and Hermione and Susan did the fire to drive it away, at least once Ernie reminded Hermione that she was a witch."

"See?" said Lillian triumphantly. "Now, let's get going." The nine of them set off down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Harry was reminded of Gringotts. With an unpleasant jolt of the heart, he remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the heart of the bank. If they met a dragon, a fully grown dragon - Norbert was bad enough.

A minute later, they heard a soft rustling and clinking coming from up ahead, and saw a bit of light in the distance. They cautiously approached and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them, It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" asked Ron.

"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose it they all swooped down at once...well, there's no other choice...I'll run."

He took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. He expected to feel sharp beaks and claws tearing at him any second, but nothing happened. He reached the door untouched. He pulled the handle, but it was locked.

His friends followed him, but no matter how much they tugged at the door, it wouldn't budge. Even when Hermione tried the Alohomora Charm, it still wouldn't open. As they wondered what to do now, they looked up at the birds, wondering if that could have something to do with the door, and that was when Harry realized that they were winged keys.

"Of course!" exclaimed Justin. "One of them must open the door. But which is it? And how do we get it?"

Susan pointed at five broomsticks standing up against the wall. "We've got to use those. Since there's only five brooms, I assume the four of us that are the weakest flyers will stay out of this and the rest of us will get the key."

Ron examined the lock on the door. "We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one, probably silver, like the handle."

As Harry, Ron, Susan, Ernie, and Lillian were the best flyers of the group, they each grabbed a broom and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.

Not for nothing, though, was Harry the youngest Seeker in a century. He had a knack for spotting things other people didn't. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed a large silver key that had a bent wing, as if it had already been caught and stuffed roughly into the keyhole. "That one!" he called to the others. "That big one - there - no, there - with bright blue wings, the feathers are all crumpled on one side."

Ron went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom.

"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. "Ron, you come at it from above, Susan, stay below and stop it from going down, Lillian, go at it from behind, and Ernie, you come from it from that side. I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"

Ron dived, Hermione rocketed upward, and Lillian came from behind. As the key dodged them, it came close to Ernie, who reached out for it. Before he could grab it, it swerved towards the wall, and Harry streaked after it, leaned forward, and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand.

The others cheered as the five landed and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned, it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight. They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. The Hufflepuff Nine shivered slightly - the towering white chessmen had no faces.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room."

"So do we, or rather you Ron, since you're the best of us at chess, have to direct the pieces?" asked Neville. "Or do we have to become chessmen?"

"The second one, I think," said Ron, approaching one of the black knights and putting out a hand to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron. "Do we - er - have to join you to get across?"

The black knight nodded and Ron turned to the others. "Well, we can't all become chess pieces," Susan pointed out. "There's nine of us, which would mean eight of us would have to play the back pieces and one of us be a pawn. It's next to impossible to play a chess match where we only lose a few pawns."

"But do we all have to play?" Hannah wondered out loud. "Couldn't some of us fill in and the rest of us just watch?"

"We'll have to see," said Ron. "Harry, go take the place of the king. No, don't argue with me. If you fell that it's your destiny to fight Riddle, then I'll bloody well make sure that you survive to do so, by having you play the king. Susan, you take the queen. Hermione and Neville, you take the place of the castles, and Ernie, you take the place of that bishop. I'm going to be a knight."

The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words, the king and queen, both rooks, a knight, and a bishop turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving six empty squares that Harry, Susan, Neville, Ernie, Hermione, and Ron took.

"White always plays first in chess," said Ron, peering across the board. "Yes...look..." A white pawn had moved forward two squares.

Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Harry's knees were trembling. What if they lost?

Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown. "Had to let that happen," said Ron, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on."

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice. Ron only just noticed in time that his friends were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones, with the help of Susan as queen.

Finally Ron realized a way to checkmate the white king, but it involved letting himself be taken. His friends all tried to argue against it, but he was firm, pointing out that sacrifices had to be made in chess and it was more important that they stop Quirrell and Riddle from getting the Stone. Ron, face pale but determined, stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor - Hermione screamed but stayed on her square - the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out. Hannah, Justin, and Lillian gathered around Ron's unconscious body while Ernie, rather shaken, moved three spaces to the left.

The white king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. "All right," said Harry, coming to a decision. "Hannah, Justin, and Lil, stay with Ron and help him come to. Neville and Susan, go grab the brooms and fly up through the trapdoor so you can fetch McGonagall and send letters to Dumbledore and my guardians. I should have done this earlier, but it's too late now. Hermione and Ernie can continue with me, but only because I'll need their skill for whatever Professor Snape set up."

The others didn't argue, but did as Harry ordered. Hermione and Ernie charged through the door with Harry and up the next passageway. "I hope Ron will be all right," said Hermione worriedly.

"I'm sure he is," said Harry. "Hannah, Justin, and Lil are taking care of him."

They had reached another door, and Ernie pushed it open. A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making the three of them pull their robes up over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a humongous troll, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"I'm glad we don't have to fight it," Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door, the three of them hardly daring to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line. "Snape's," said Harry. "What do we have to do?"

They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire spring up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire, either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Harry and Ernie looked over her shoulders to read it. Hermione let out a great sigh when they were done reading, and Harry amazed, saw that she was smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing. " _Brilliant_ ," she said. "This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?" asked Harry.

"Not with Hermione and me here," said Ernie. "There are seven bottles, and from what the paper says, three are poison, two are nettle wine, one will take us back through the purple fire, and one will take us forward through the black. We just have to use the paper to work out which is which."

"Oh, it's sort of like the riddles and puzzles featured in the _Redwall_ series," said Harry in understanding. "Hermione was always the first to figure them out, before we read about the characters doing so, so I'll leave this one up to her."

After three minutes, Hermione and Ernie worked out that the smallest bottle would get them through the black fire, while the rounded bottle at the right end of the line would take them back. Since there was only enough in the small bottle for one person, Harry said that he was going forward, while Hermione and Ernie were to go back. The two of them hugged Harry and wished him luck, then drank from the round bottle at the end and walked through the purple fire. As Harry picked up the smallest bottle and drained it, he thought he heard the voice of McGonagall. However, he had no time do anything about it, since he didn't want his potion to wear off, and instead walked forward through the black fire.

Inside the last chamber was Quirrell, who was examining a mirror that Harry realized was the Mirror of Erised, but upon Harry's entrance, he turned around. "Ah, I wondered if I'd be meeting you here, Potter."

" _Expelliarmus_!" Harry shouted, having practiced the Disarming Charm during the past few weeks. Quirrell hadn't been expecting a magical attack, so his wand flew out of his hand and Harry caught it.

"Give me back my wand!" Quirrell shouted angrily.

"All right," said Harry calmly, and proceeded to snap Quirrell's wand in two so that he couldn't use it anymore. "Oops! So clumsy of me." Harry pulled out the exposed unicorn hair and dropped it to the floor, then tossed the two pieces at Quirrell. "Here's your wand back. I never said I'd give it back in one piece."

An furious Quirrell advanced on Harry, who stepped to one side and cast the Leg-Locker Curse, halting the Defense teacher in his tracks. "How are you this easy to beat?" Harry asked. "Would it be harder if I were facing Tom Riddle, whom I presume is possessing you?"

"Who's Tom-" began Quirrell, looking confused, before he was cut off by a voice that was coming from the back of Quirrell's head. "How did you know the name that I was given at birth?"

"I did some research," said Harry, which was partially true. "So are you going to face me or not?"

"Yes, I will," said the voice. "Reveal me, Quirrell." Quirrell did a couple of awkward hops so that his back was to Harry, and he unwrapped his turban to reveal a chalk white face with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake, where the back of his head should have been.

Perhaps it was Harry's nervousness, but he suddenly thought of when the Weasley twins had bewitched snowballs to bounce off Quirrell's turban and realized that they had essentially been hitting Voldemort/Riddle in the face. A rather hysterical giggle burst out of Harry's mouth.

Just then, Professors McGonagall and Snape burst into the chamber, looks of mingle worry and fury on their faces. It turned to shock when they saw what was on the back of Quirrell's head. Quirrell took advantage of this to reach out a hand and grab Harry, with the intent of using him as a shield. However, as soon as he touched the preteen, a needle-sharp pain seared across Harry's scar and Quirrell let out a cry of pain and let go of Harry's wrist. The pain lessened and Harry looked around to see Quirrell bent over in pain, looking at his fingers, which were blistering before his eyes.

For whatever reason, it seemed that Quirrell couldn't touch Harry's bare skin, not without suffering terrible pain, so Harry reached out and grabbed the Defense teacher's wrist. Quirrell let out another howl of pain and flinched back, and since he was still under the Leg-Locker Curse, fell to the ground, Harry on top of him. As the pain in Harry's head was building, he saw McGonagall rush over, and before he passed out, he thought he dimly saw her pull him away before doing a spell against Quirrell/Riddle.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note: I accidentally wrote 'Dumbledore and Hedwig' instead of 'Dumbledore and my guardians' in the previous chapter. It has now been corrected. Also, to the guest reviewer, the reason the Marauders didn't put the Room of Requirement on the Map is because it's Unplottable. I don't think anyone like them would fail to find the Room at some point during their Hogwarts years. The only place they didn't find is the Chamber of Secrets, since you need Parseltongue to open it.

When Harry came to, he saw that he was lying in a bed in the Hospital Wing, and his guardians were sitting by his bedside, worried looks on their faces. (At least he thought they looked worried, since he didn't have his glasses on.) When he sat up, Remus handed him his glasses from the bedside nightstand.

"Thanks, Uncle Remus," said Harry, putting on his glasses. "So what happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened, Harry James Potter!" snapped Ria, whose worried look had changed to one of fury. "You decided to disregard what Minerva and Severus told you and go chasing after Quirrell! And your friends got dragged into it too, though they've told me that they insisted on coming with you even though you tried to talk them out of it. There was absolutely no way that Quirrell or Riddle could have gotten the Stone, since Professor Dumbledore told me that he hid the Stone in the Mirror of Erised and only someone that wanted to find the Stone but not use it could get it out."

"Oh," said Harry in a small voice, now realizing the seriousness of his actions.

"Yes, 'oh'," said Ria. "You incredibly foolish boy! What if you hadn't managed to Disarm Quirrell and break his wand? Then he would have had you captive, and probably would have forced you to look in the Mirror. Since you have no desire to use the Stone, then you would have gotten it, which would have put it within Riddle's reach! Do you realize that he could have returned to power, and you, my beloved surrogate son, would have died!"

"What you did was very brave," said Sirius, looking solemn. "But like Ria said, it was incredibly foolish too. You really should have stopped to think it over first. Once you realized that Snape was Stunned, you should have gone to McGonagall at once. Once she revived him, the two would have gone after Quirrell and stopped him. Which is what they were doing once Snape told her what happened and they realized that you had gone after Quirrell."

"I'm sorry," apologized Harry. "I just saw that Quirrell was going after the Stone, with Tom Riddle possessing him, and felt they should be stopped."

"Yes, but not by first years!" Remus exclaimed. "Once you saw what was going on via the Map, you should have gone to Professor McGonagall at once and her deal with the matter! If she and Snape hadn't shown up when they did, with Dumbledore following a couple of minutes later, you could have died!"

"Then why was it that a group of first-years was able to get past the protections on the Stone?" Harry retorted. "We found out how to get past Fluffy, by playing music at him. Neville and Hannah knew about the Devil's Snare and Susan and Hermione were able to conjure fire to drive it away. The winged keys just required me to catch it with the help of some of friends that were also good at flying, and Ron's brilliant at chess, so he got us past the giant chessboard. The troll Quirrell already took care of, and Hermione and Ernie were able to work out the logic puzzle with the potions."

Ria looked taken aback. "You have a point," she admitted. "I'll have to speak to Professor Dumbledore about that."

"But that doesn't mean your life was danger," Sirius scolded. "You're my godson, and I promised James and Lily to care for you. I can't do that if you're going to do very brave but also very stupid stunts that could get you killed." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hand mirror. "Here. The next time you get wind of something important, call me and tell us, so we can talk sense into you and arrange for the appropriate adults to handle the situation. Honestly, I regret not thinking of giving this to you during the Christmas holidays. If I had, then all of this could have been avoided."

"It's all right, Sirius, it's not your fault that you never expected Harry to do something like this," Remus soothed. "Besides, it's not like you've never done any reckless things yourself."

"Yes, but I never did anything this reckless in my first year at Hogwarts," said Sirius. "Anyway, Harry, you've got your father's old two-way mirror now, and I expect you to use it to call us if anything important happens again."

"I will, Uncle Sirius," promised Harry. "So what happened with Quirrell and Riddle?"

"It seems that when your mother died for you, she left some sort of protection on you," Ria said. "So Quirrell couldn't touch you, due to being possessed by Riddle, without feeling pain. His body was starting to fall apart when Professor McGonagall got to you. She pulled you away from him and did a Blasting Curse. Riddle's spirit fled from the scene, leaving Quirrell's body to die, and Professor Dumbledore witnessed the last bit and saw that you got to the Hospital Wing. Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall took care of your friends, and Professor Snape contacted us."

"So that's why you guys are here," said Harry. "So how long was I out?"

"A little over three days," said Remus. "We haven't left your side except to eat, use the bathroom, and sleep. And when we slept, it was in the nearby beds."

"And what's going to happen with the Stone?"

"Amelia Bones came down and gave Dumbledore a piece of her mind," replied Sirius. "I think she realized that perhaps hiding the Stone at Hogwarts wasn't such a great idea after all. Anyway, Dumbledore then spoke with Nicolas Flamel, and he and his wife decided to destroy it. They have just enough Elixir to put their affairs in order and after that they'll pass on."

"Oh," said Harry. "Erm, I really am sorry for worrying you all like this. Next time I'll stop to think first. Or at least listen to Lil and Hermione, since they tried to tell me to listen to Professors McGonagall and Snape. They probably would have tried harder, but once I said I wanted to do it alone and they were free to not come, they got all 'Hufflepuffs stick together' and 'you need us'. Which I did, but..."

"We understand," said Ria. "Here, why don't you have some of the sweets that the other students have sent you, and I'll tell your friends that you're awake."

She returned fifteen minutes later with the rest of the Hufflepuff Nine, who were allowed to stay ten minutes (per Madam Pomfrey's orders) and make sure that Harry was all right with their own eyes. Once they'd left, Ria said, "You're still recovering, so I'm having you stay in bed for the rest of the day. You can be discharged tomorrow and attend the Leaving Feast. As for your punishment -"

"I'm being punished?" Harry blurted out.

"Of course," Ria snapped. "You did something incredibly foolish, even if it was also very brave, so you'll need to learn better. Therefore, once you return home for the holidays, you'll have to write an essay about learning to think first and what you should have done in this situation. I'll give you three days to write it, and I expect at least twelve inches of parchment. Also, you are banned from flying for two weeks, and you cannot visit any of your friends for the first week, nor can they visit you. The only contact you may have with them is via letters and through your notebooks. Finally, you'll have extra chores for a week, which will consist of washing the dishes after all meals, doing the laundry, cleaning the downstairs area, and helping me brew healing potions."

Harry sighed, but he supposed he deserved all that for worrying his guardians and rushing headlong into things. "However, since what you did was also brave," said Sirius, "we are going to reward you with dessert of your choice for one week, and letting Dumbledore also provide a reward."

"All right," said Harry. "Oh, hey, who won the Quidditch Cup? Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were supposed to have theirs, I think two days ago?"

"Hufflepuff did, thanks to your performance at your matches," Remus said. "You're not winning the House Cup, though. Hufflepuff dropped to third place, since Professor Snape's initial reaction was to take one hundred points off your house once he came to and realized what you were up to."

"Oh, are the other Hufflepuffs mad?" asked Harry.

"They were a bit annoyed at first, but once your friends explained matters to them, they got over it," said Ria. "Besides, Hufflepuff was in second place originally, so it wasn't as if they would win it anyway. Slytherin had the most points, so they're going to win." Sirius looked sour at that.

"Oh come now, Slytherin isn't all bad," Ria said. "Your cousin Andromeda was in that house, and is really nice. And she eloped with my housemate Ted Tonks after graduation and got disowned by your family for it since he was Muggleborn."

"I suppose," said Sirius. "Anyway, Harry, I expect Hagrid will be dropping by later. He came by yesterday and kept apologizing to us, saying that it was all his fault you were like this and he should be sacked and made to live as a Muggle. We finally got him calmed down by reminding him that plenty of wizards have been hoodwinked by Voldemort, and he'd have found out somehow. Or should I call him Tom Riddle, since that's apparently his birth name?"

"Call him Riddle, at least among us," Harry suggested. "It doesn't make people flinch the way 'Voldemort' does."

A couple of hours later, his guardians left to get some dinner, while Madam Pomfrey brought him some soup and bread to eat. The following morning, Hagrid came by, apologized to Harry, who assured the gamekeeper it was all right, and then handed Harry a gift. "Sirius an' Remus helped me with it," Hagrid said with a smile. "An' Snape an' the Longbottoms gave me some stuff, too."

Harry unwrapped it to find a handsome, leather-bound book. When he opened it, he saw that it was full of pictures of his parents and their friends, and he realized that his parents' friends must have collected all the pictures they had of the Potters and given it to Hagrid to put in a photo album. Now Harry didn't have to ask Sirius and Remus for their photo collection in order to see pictures of his parents, and could just look at his own album.

After lunch, Harry's guardians bid him good-bye, telling him that they'd see him again in a couple of days, and left Hogwarts. That evening, Harry made his way down to the Great Hall alone. He had been held up by Madam Pomfrey's fussing about, insisting on giving him one last check-up, even though Aunt Ria had given him one before she left and pronounced him as fully recovered. Perhaps the school Healer had been a bit annoyed that Harry's _de facto_ godmother had exercised her position as a Healer by taking charge of Harry's care. In any case, the Great Hall was already full when he got there, and was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the House Cup for seven years in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

When Harry walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once. He slipped into a seat between Ron and Susan and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at him. The only ones he didn't mind were his fellow Hufflepuffs, who didn't stand up at all, but did lean over and tell him that they were proud of him and his friends for what they did, and didn't blame him at all for the loss of a hundred points.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later and the babble died away. "Another year gone," he said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were...you have a whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts...

"Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand as thus: In fourth place, Ravenclaw, with three hundred and forty-eight points; in third, Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty-two; Gryffindor has four hundred and twenty-six, and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Harry could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account." The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little. "Ahem. I have some last-minute points to dish out. Mr. Ronald Weasley, Miss Susan Bones, Mr. Ernest Macmillian, Miss Hermione Granger, Mr. Neville Longbottom, Miss Lillian Moon, Mr. Justin Finch-Fletchley, Miss Hannah Abbott, and Mr. Harry Potter, all from Hufflepuff, all demonstrated the excellent qualities of their house. They were loyal and just friends to each other, and were dedicated to ensuring that a great evil would not win at Hogwarts and succeed in returning to the wizarding world. For that, I award them thirty points each, and commend their brave and noble actions, even if they weren't strictly necessary."

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Hufflepuff table. The Hufflepuff Nine looked rather embarrassed to have been commended so publicly, as their housemates yelled and cheered around them and started hugging them for gaining their house a total of two hundred and seventy points and thereby winning Hufflepuff the House Cup the first time in over fifty years. Harry looked to one side and saw Malfoy, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had been hit with a Stunner or the Body-Bind Curse.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became yellow and silver became black; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Hufflepuff badger took its place. Professor Snape was shaking Professor Sprout's hand (the Hufflepuff head was beaming broadly and looked very proud), with a horrible, forced smile.

It was the best evening of Harry's life, better than winning at Quidditch, or celebrating his birthday, or Christmas...he would never, ever forget tonight. He and his friends had proved that Hufflepuff was a great house, and had brought it honor and glory.

* * *

Harry had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come, but come they did. To his great surprise, he had passed with good marks, coming in among the top thirty percent; Hermione, of course, had the best grades of the first years, except in Herbology, where Neville narrowly beat her. The Hufflepuff Nine had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had managed to barely scrape through. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you couldn't have everything in life.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ("I always hope they'll forget to give us these," said Fred sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express.

Harry wasn't looking forward to his punishment, though he knew he deserved it, and it wasn't as if he was the only one that was being punished. Susan and Ron were also grounded from seeing their friends for a week and couldn't go flying during that time, as well as having extra chores, and Neville had extra chores for two weeks and had to write an essay about thinking first. As for Hermione, the events had been explained to her parents in a way that wouldn't cause them to want to pull her out of Hogwarts, but she was being punished for her actions by not being allowed to read (other than what was necessary for her summer homework) for two weeks, and being unable to see her friends for a week. Ernie, Lillian, and Hannah were also grounded for two weeks, but Justin hadn't said anything to his parents yet, though Ria had offered to explain things to them the same way she had done with the Grangers.

When the train pulled into Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, the Hufflepuff Nine gathered their things and headed for the line to the barrier. Since it turned out that Cedric lived in the same area as Harry, Ron, and Neville, he promised to visit once they were off their grounding. Other Hufflepuffs wished the group a good summer and said they'd see them later.

Out in the main part of the station, Harry hugged his guardians, bid his friends good-bye, and then followed Ria, Sirius, and Remus out to the car.


	17. Chapter 17

Since Harry couldn't see his friends or go flying for the first week of the holidays, after he finished writing the essay that Aunt Ria had set him, he ended up spending most of his time working on his summer homework. As for the extra chores, well, washing the dishes didn't take that long and he only had to that after the three daily meals. Laundry ended up only needing to be done once that week and only required him to put the dirty clothes in the washer with some detergent, then the dryer once they were washed, and finally taking the clothes out once they were dry and sorting them out to be put in the appropriate bedrooms. The only clothes he needed to fold and put away were his, which also didn't take much time. As for cleaning the downstairs area, he ended up only having to deal with the living room, dining room, and bathroom (and only the latter needed to be cleaned more than once a week), since Ria preferred taking care of the kitchen herself and Remus and Sirius liked their shared study a certain way. Finally, Harry ended up not needing to help with brewing potions at all, other than for one hour that was used towards his Potions homework.

When his week of grounding (other than flying) was over, he immediately Flooed over to the Weasleys. While Ron was no longer grounded, he still had two more days of extra chores, and Harry plus Neville, who had also Flooed over, ended up helping with de-gnoming the garden so that the three of them could play sooner. Hermione and Susan came over partway through, and decided to join in on the de-gnoming as well.

"I hate not being allowed to read," Hermione grumbled as she threw a gnome over the hedge. "As punishments go, it is effective enough to remind me to think first before rushing into things, but it still sucks. And my parents even went so far as to decree that I could only spend one hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon working on my summer homework so that I couldn't try to get around my punishment by spending hours reading my textbooks."

"You could read some of my books while you're here," Ron offered. "We won't say anything, and your parents will never know."

"That wouldn't be right," Hermione said. "Besides, what if your mum caught me? She'd definitely tell my parents, and then I'd be grounded again from seeing you guys for another week until my ban from reading got lifted."

The others made a face and changed to subject to discuss what they should do after they finished with the de-gnoming, since they couldn't go flying.

"What about the clubhouse that Uncle Sirius, Uncle Remus, and Uncle Arthur built us?" Harry asked. "We haven't been in it since last summer, and Uncle Sirius said he expanded the inside and added some more furniture so that our other friends can fit in it when they visit."

"Good idea, Harry," said Neville. The clubhouse had been built shortly after Ron's eighth birthday, and Sirius had even spelled it so that Fred and George wouldn't be able to enter it without permission, so they couldn't play any pranks.

When the five went inside the clubhouse, the changes were apparent at once. The living room/activity room was twice the size it had been before, and had a second couch and a third armchair added, while the round table had been replaced with a larger rectangular one and four more chairs had been added. A second bookcase and a couple of extra shelves were against the walls. The room designated as a kitchen/snack area was larger, the table had been replaced with a larger one and four more chairs were added, and there were two more cabinets and a larger cupboard containing more food and drinks under a stasis charm. The only thing that was unchanged was the bathroom, other than a few more towels and bars of soap in the cabinet by the sink.

"Wow," said Hermione, staring around the clubhouse. "It's now bigger on the inside, like the TARDIS."

Since they'd all seen at least a few episodes of _Doctor Who_ , thanks to the televisions that the Grangers and Ria had, they understood the reference and simply nodded in agreement. The five of them looked around, and decided to spend the afternoon playing some Muggle board games that Ria had given them.

It turned out that Justin's home was a two-hour drive away from the town that Harry, Hermione, and Neville lived in, so Justin invited them, plus the rest of their friends, to visit for the third week of July (when Ernie, Hannah, and Lily were off their groundings). As Harry had suspected, the Finch-Fletchleys were squires, and owned a large manor house with an attached estate. However, they weren't at all snobbish, and were very nice. When giving the group a tour around the house and estate, Mr. Finch-Fletchley mentioned that his family had been unusually egalitarian for the past several generations.

"What does egil-egal-that word mean?" Neville asked.

"You know how most wealthy people or nobles looked down on those they considered to be inferior and didn't treat them as equals?" Mr. Finch-Fletchley replied. "Our family was never like that. Our being egalitarian meant that we treated our servants and tenants with respect and more-or-less as equals."

After the tour, they had dinner, with Mr. and Mrs. Finch-Fletchley asking Ria, Sirius, and Remus more about the wizarding world and talking with Mr. and Mrs. Granger about their dental practice and how they had dealt with finding out their child was magical. When dinner ended, the adults (minus Justin's parents), left, since they had a two-hour drive ahead of them, and the preteens got settled in the guest rooms.

The week passed pleasantly. The Hufflepuff Nine explored the estate, helped Justin with his summer homework, and in Ernie's and Lillian's cases, learned more about the Muggle world. (Hannah already was fairly knowledgeable, since her mother was Muggleborn.)

At the end of July was Neville's and Harry's birthdays, and Ernie, Lil, Hannah, and Justin were invited over for the parties and to spend two weeks in August. Cedric was also invited to the parties, since he had wanted to visit. Neville's birthday came first, on the 30th, and the Hufflepuff Nine plus Cedric spent the afternoon in the clubhouse playing games. That was followed by cake and ice cream in the Weasley back yard, and Neville opened his presents. The rest of the Hufflepuff Nine had gotten together and bought him a book on magical underwater plants, a box with several packets of seeds, and a notebook so he could record the growth and development of his plants. Cedric gave him a seedling of a Flutterby bush, Ginny gave him a box of Chocolate Frogs (his favorite sweet), and Luna gave him a picture she'd sketched of her garden. His parents had gotten him some gardening tools, and his friends' parents/guardians gave him boxes of sweets and various memorabilia of his favorite Quidditch team.

The next day was Harry's birthday, and he decided to spend it by having a Quidditch match. Since Justin wasn't comfortable with flying for more than a few feet in the air, he was appointed to be the commentator and scorekeeper, while Luna (who didn't care for playing, but enjoyed watching), was made the referee. Harry was the captain of one team, and Cedric was the captain of the other. Due to the fact that there were only twelve players, they decided to have only one Beater on each team.

For Harry's team, he was Seeker, chose Fred as Beater, Ron as Keeper, and Ginny, Susan, and Neville as Chasers. Cedric played Seeker for his team, and had George as Beater, Ernie as Keeper, and Hermione, Lil, and Hannah as the Chasers. It took a few minutes for the twins to adjust to playing against one another, since they were so used to working as a team, but they eventually got a hang of it. Since Harry, as the birthday boy, had snagged the better players, his Chasers scored more often, and Ron didn't find it too difficult to block the attempts at goal. Finally, after an hour, when Harry's team was winning, one hundred ninety points to twenty, the two Seekers finally spotted the Snitch. Both went streaking after it, and Harry was reaching out to grab it when his nose suddenly felt itchy and he unluckily sneezed. In that moment, Cedric was able to push away Harry's hand and grab the Snitch.

Justin blinked in surprise as he added up the points and announced, "Even though Cedric caught the Snitch, Harry's team wins, one hundred ninety points to one hundred seventy. Does this happen often in Quidditch, where one Seeker catches the Snitch but his team still loses?"

"No, but it's not unheard of either," Sirius responded. "If one team has better Chasers, they can manage to score enough times so that they're more than one hundred fifty points ahead. The other team's Seeker can choose to catch the Snitch in order to minimize the loss and prevent their opposite from catching it."

Following the match was cake, ice cream, and presents. Harry's friends had gotten him a novel about a wizarding archaeologist, a Hufflepuff banner, and a large box of his favorite sweets. His guardians gave him (and his friends) tickets for the Appleby Arrows-Wimbourne Wasps match next week. Harry was excited by that, and explained to Justin the rivalry the two teams had (which started when a Wasps Beater batted a wasps' nest at the Arrows Seeker, and thereby gave Wimbourne their emblem). Fortunately, none of Harry's friends were Wasps supporters, so they had no problem joining him in cheering on the Arrows.

The next day, the Hufflepuff Nine were in the clubhouse, playing a game of Exploding Snap and enjoying pumpkin juice and some snacks. Just as the tower of cards exploded, there was the sound of a crack, though none of them really heard it. They were in the process of shuffling a couple of decks of cards when Justin said, "Hey, guys, who or what is that?"

The others turned to look and saw a house-elf standing at the back of one of the couches, dressed in a ragged and rather filthy pillowcase and looking absolutely miserable. "That's a house-elf," said Harry. "They're sort of like brownies in Muggle fairy tales, in that they are bound and work for a specific family. They can only be set free if given clothes, sort of like the elves in the Muggle story 'The Elves and the Shoemaker'."

"Why is a house-elf here?" Neville asked. "He certainly doesn't belong to any of our families. The ones working for my family and Susan's don't wear dirty pillowcases, nor do they look so miserable."

"The same for my family's elf," Ernie said. "Erm, who are you, and why are you here?"

The house-elf bowed deeply to the group and said in a rather high and squeaky voice, "Dobby, sir. Dobby the house-elf. Dobby has come to tell Harry Potter, sir...it is difficult, sir...Dobby wonders where to begin..."

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Harry said kindly. He got up and fetched a stool from the corner of the room. "Here, you can sit down."

To his horror, the elf burst into very noisy tears. " _S-sit down_!" he wailed. " _Never...never never..._ "

The others exchanged looks, while Harry bent down and asked, "I didn't offend you or anything, did I? I'm sorry if I did."

"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has _never_ been asked to sit down by a wizard - like an _equal_ \- or gotten an apology -"

Both Hermione and Justin looked shocked and scandalized, while the rest exchanged looks again, this time ones of pity for Dobby. "I'm sorry, Dobby," Harry said again, holding in his anger over how Dobby had been treated. "I see that you can't have met many decent wizards."

Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banding his head on the nearby wall. Harry immediately leapt up and pulled Dobby away from the wall, hissing, "Please, don't do that!"

"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gotten slightly cross-eyed, "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family."

"If they're not treating you well, then they deserve being insulted," Justin snapped. "My family didn't see their servants as inferior and never treated them so badly. Do all wizards treat their servants like this?"

"Just the bad ones, like the Malfoys," Susan said disgustedly. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Dobby here did belong to the Malfoys."

Dobby looked up at Susan in shock. "How did miss know what family Dobby serves?"

"Er, it was just a guess," said Susan, surprised that she had guessed right. "Did the Malfoys send you here, or know that you're here, Dobby?"

Dobby shuddered. "Oh no, miss, no...Dobby will have to punish himself most grievously for coming to see Harry Potter and his friends. Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew-"

"Can't you do something for punishment that won't hurt yourself?" Neville asked. "Whenever my family's house-elves feel they deserve punishment, they just do an extra chore."

Dobby shook his head. "The Mal-family likes it if Dobby hurts himself."

"That's awful!" Harry exclaimed. "I wish I could help you, Dobby. Help you escape the Malfoys or something."

At that, Dobby let out a wail of gratitude. "Harry Potter asks if he can help Dobby...Dobby has heard of your greatness, sir, but of your goodness, Dobby never knew..."

Harry felt his face growing hot. "I'm not great, well, except maybe at Quidditch. Honestly, I'm not even top of my year, that's Hermione here."

Hermione blushed at the praise, while Dobby said, reverently, his orb-liked eyes aglow, "Harry Potter is humble and modest. Harry Potter speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-"

"Voldemort?" Harry interrupted.

Dobby clapped his hands over his bat ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, sir! Speak not the name!"

"Sorry," said Harry quickly. "I'll just use his birth name of Tom Riddle then. Is that fine with you?"

Dobby nodded, leaning forward, his eyes wide as headlights. "Dobby heard tell," he said hoarsely, "that Harry Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time, just weeks ago...that Harry Potter escaped _yet again_."

"Well, I had help from my friends, but yeah, I did," said Harry.

Dobby's eyes suddenly shone with tears. "Ah, sir," he gasped, dabbing his face with a corner of the grubby pillowcase he was wearing. "Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he _does_ have to shut his ears in the oven door later... _Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts_."

"Not go back to Hogwarts?" asked Harry blankly. "But why? I like Hogwarts, and being with my friends and learning magic."

"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Harry Potter must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."

"In more danger than facing You-Know-Who on the back of a professor's head?" Ernie asked incredulously.

Dobby looked around at the Hufflepuff Nine. "There is a plot, sirs and misses," he whispered, suddenly trembling all over. "A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year. Dobby has known it for months. Harry Potter must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

"Since you've known of this plot for months and you work for the Malfoys, I'm assuming that they're, or at least Mr. Malfoy is, behind it?" Hermione asked.

Dobby made a funny choking noise and grabbed a book from one of the bookcases, but before he could hit himself with it, Susan took it away. "You don't have to say anything, Dobby," she said firmly."We understand. But is it really necessary to have Harry not go to Hogwarts? You've warned us that there's a plot, and we've worked out that Mr. Malfoy is behind it. So all we have to do is tell Professor Dumbledore, and Harry can tell his guardians, and I can tell my Auntie Amelia, who's Head of the DMLE, and Neville can tell his parents, who are Aurors. They can investigate the Malfoys, and Professor Dumbledore can put extra protections on the school and everything,"

Dobby shook his head. "Dobby's family is too powerful, and the Minister likes them. Also, there are powers Dumbledore doesn't...powers no decent wizard..." He then tried to grab another book to hit himself with, but Ron grabbed him.

"Dobby, please don't punish yourself, at least while you're here, all right?" Ron requested. "If you're so worried, does this mean that this plot has to do with Vol - I mean Tom Riddle? You can just shake or nod your head."

Dobby slowly shook his head, but then changed it to a nod. "Not _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_ , sir, but the other name, yes."

The Hufflepuff Nine exchanged puzzled looks. How could it not involve the Dark Lord, but still involve him before he became the Dark Lord? It didn't make much sense. "Look, Dobby," said Harry. "I understand that you want to protect me. But if I don't go to Hogwarts just because Mr. Malfoy has a plot, then all the students might as well not go. I'm not going to stay safely at home and have my friends and housemates, or the other students, face danger." Seeing Dobby hesitate, Harry continued, "I promise to be very careful while I'm at Hogwarts and do my best to not end up in any situations where I can be killed, especially by Riddle, okay, Dobby? And I will make sure that Professor Dumbledore knows so that he can put up extra protections on the school."

"Dobby supposes that will do," Dobby said after a minute. "Sirs and misses, please be careful. Good-bye." With that, he disappeared from the room.

"Okay, that was strange," said Justin.

"House-elves are a bit strange," said Neville. He explained some more about elves, emphasizing that decent wizards treated their servants well, while ones like the Malfoys abused them, and added that the ones working at Hogwarts were happy and well-treated, thanks to the fact that Helga Hufflepuff had made the school a haven for house-elves.

"All right, I get that house-elves enjoy working and all that, but you can tell that Dobby looks miserable," said Justin. "Why aren't there laws against ill-treating them?"

"Because not everyone sees non-humans as equals," Lil said. "There are plenty who are just as racist towards non-humans as some purebloods are towards Muggles and Muggleborns. And then there are others who aren't mean or anything, but they still feel a bit superior and talk down to them."

"Well, our second order of business will be figuring out a way to get Dobby away from the Malfoys," Harry said. "Perhaps trick them into setting him free. But our first order of business is to pass on the warning that Dobby gave us. I've got to let my guardians know, so they can pass it on to Professor Dumbledore, and you've got to tell your aunt, Susan. And Neville has to tell his parents. What about the rest of you guys?"

"I can let Dad know," said Ron. "But I don't know if he can do much of anything, unless he can come up with a reason to conduct a raid of the Malfoys. And even then, he might not be able to find anything. I doubt the Malfoys would leave anything incriminating lying around."

"It's worth a shot," said Harry. "Maybe Uncle Sirius will know something he can pass on to your dad. He was forced to visit Malfoy Manor a few times when he was a kid."

The rest of the Hufflepuff Nine decided not to mention this to their parents at the moment, since there was nothing their parents could do, and in fact, both Hannah's and Justin's parents could react by withdrawing them from Hogwarts. With that, the nine of them scattered so that Harry, Ron, Susan, and Neville could go home and pass on Dobby's warning to their parents/guardians.


	18. Chapter 18

Since Mr. Weasley was currently conducting some raids (mostly for bewitched items that could be found in the Muggle world or could end up in Muggle hands), he and Madam Bones promised to come up with a reason to do one on the Malfoy home. Meanwhile, Sirius recalled hearing (back during one of his few visits to Malfoy Manor when he was a child) Abraxas Malfoy (Lucius's father) say something about a hiding place in the drawing room. There had been no mention of where in the drawing room the hiding place was, but at least it was somewhere to start. The only thing they couldn't do was go right away, since there would be people in the Ministry who would object to the Malfoys being raided and would disregard what Dobby had said simply because he was a house-elf.

Ria, Remus, and Sirius went up to Hogwarts and spent an afternoon talking with Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape about Dobby's warning. That was also when the three also told Dumbledore that they had guardianship of Harry.

"But - but - the protections!" Dumbledore sputtered. "The wards! Harry's safe so long as he can his aunt's house his home."

"There haven't been any wards on the Dursley house for over ten years," Ria retorted. "They broke ever since Petunia and Vernon Dursley decided that they wanted nothing to with their nephew and abandoned Harry on the steps of a church in the town I live in. If I hadn't been walking by the church and found him, he would have been found by one of the Muggles in the town, probably the vicar, and would have ended up in an orphanage. When Sirius and I went to see the Dursleys about abandoning Harry, they flat out said that they never wanted him and signed papers turning over guardianship to us."

"But Arabella told me that she's seen Harry with his relatives and he looks well!" Professor Dumbledore protested.

Sirius snorted. "You mean you had that batty Squib who breeds cats and kneazles move into the neighborhood and keep an eye on things? Did she ever interact with the Dursleys, or did she just see them from a distance?"

"It was from a distance," Dumbledore admitted. "The Dursleys didn't care for her and never interacted with her at all."

"Then what she saw was probably some boy with dark hair that's friends with the Dursley boy, and she assumed it was Harry," said Remus. "In any case, Ria Sirius, and I have been raising Harry, with some help from Alice Longbottom and Molly Weasley."

Dumbledore sighed deeply. "I knew that Petunia was rather jealous that she wasn't a witch, but I thought that for Lily's sake, she would take in Harry and raise him properly. I never thought she would resent the wizarding world so much that she would just abandon her nephew and want nothing to do with him. I suppose if she and her husband had been forced to keep Harry, they would have been at best neglectful towards him and at worse abusive."

"I told you that leaving Harry Potter with his relatives was a mistake, Albus," said Professor McGonagall witheringly. "But you refused to listen."

"I know I made a mistake," he acknowledged. "I should have listened to - wait, why are you and Severus not surprised by this information, Minerva?"

"Because we already knew," replied Professor Snape, smirking at the look on the headmaster's face. "Hagrid knows too. After Ria took the boy in, she decided that contact the Potters' friends so that he could grow up knowing about his parents. She had no idea at the time that my friendship with Lily ended, but for Lily's sake, I was willing to keep Harry Potter's whereabouts a secret and visit occasionally so I could tell him stories about his mother."

"I see," said Dumbledore. "Is that why all you've said about Harry during the past school year was that you didn't like him because he looked too much like his blasted father and grudgingly admitted that he was relatively competent in your class? I put it down to Harry being in Hufflepuff as the reason why you didn't show as much loathing towards him as I would have thought."

Snape curtly nodded and Dumbledore looked deep in thought for several minutes. Finally he said, "Well, I'm not entirely happy that Harry isn't living with his relatives, because of the wards, but it's far too late to do anything about it now, and in any case, I have no intention of Harry growing up in an abusive environment. He has grown up happy and healthy under your guardianship, Sirius and Ria, so that's all to the good. As for the plot Harry was warned about, Minerva, Severus, and I will keep a close watch on events at Hogwarts and do our best to prevent it from being carried out, or at least put a stop to it if it starts. It is a pity that, Dobby, was it, couldn't say anything more, but at least we are forewarned that something is going to happen."

"I've also spoken with Arthur and Amelia, and they're doing a discreet investigation on the Malfoys," Ria added. "We'll probably end up bringing Moody and Kingsley into this, since they're trustworthy and I was friends with Kingsley back in Hogwarts. And if Nymphadora Tonks weren't just a trainee Auror at the moment, she'd probably be brought in too. She's got a good head on her shoulders, even if she does come across as a bit wild and free-spirited."

Dumbledore chuckled, since Tonks had been known to occasionally change her appearance to look like him as a joke, and he had found it amusing enough to sometimes walk among the students pretending to be Tonks pretending to be him. She'd also done the same for the other staff, though a couple, like Snape, hadn't found it amusing at all, and had taken points from Hufflepuff.

The group discussed a bit more about what they were going to do about the situation, and then Sirius, Remus, and Ria returned home and updated Harry.

* * *

The Hogwarts letters arrived the day after Harry and his friends attended the Quidditch match (the Wasps won, three hundred twenty points to one hundred thirty). Ginny and Luna got their acceptance letters, while everyone else got the list of supplies they would need for the coming school year.

"Excuse me?" Harry sputtered when he read his book list during breakfast. "Why do we need all these Lockhart books?"

"Let me see that," said Sirius, holding out his hand. Upon scanning the list, he saw that other than _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_ , all the books were indeed by Gilderoy Lockhart, from _Break with a Banshee_ to _Year with the Yeti_. The only books of his not on the list were his biography and _Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests_. "That's odd. So either your new Defense teacher is a fan of him, like Molly is, or it's the actual wizard himself. Merlin help you if it is Lockhart, though I don't think Dumbledore would be stupid or crazy enough to hire him."

"You never know," said Remus. "The Defense position is a bit hard to fill, because it's supposedly cursed. After all, none of the Defense teachers have lasted more than a year since a few years after Dumbledore became Headmaster. So he could be desperate enough to hire Lockhart."

Sirius groaned. "Then I'm sorry for you, Harry. Oh, and you too, Justin."

"What's wrong with this Lockhart guy?" asked Justin, looking puzzled. "He seems like he knows about fighting Dark creatures and stuff."

"That's because you never went to school with him," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "He was a few years behind us, in Ravenclaw. Normally students don't know much about or pay attention to younger students not in their house, outside of clubs and stuff, but Lockhart was determined to make his name known. He showed up at Hogwarts acting like everyone should be in awe of him, sort of like how people were in awe of you, Harry, and was hugely disappointed when that didn't happen. He did very well during his first year of school, showing that he was Ravenclaw material, but after that..."

"He craved fame," Sirius said bluntly. "He actually asked if he could be a Marauder, but I told him we didn't allow first-years or non-Gryffindors in the group, and James told him that was just what we called our group of friends and wasn't an actual club. After that, he did everything he could to garner attention, from telling people all the great things he planned to do when he graduated to pulling stunts like creating a giant image of his face that he would shoot in the air."

"Wow," said Justin. "How can one person be so full of himself?"

"That's not all," said Remus. "He apparently tried to get Dumbledore to start a school newsletter, not because Lockhart wanted to write, but because he wanted to see his name and picture in print."

"So if I had let my fame go to my head and developed a huge ego, would I have turned out like that?" Harry asked, looking horrified.

"That's assuming we let you get a swelled head," Ria pointed out. "Do keep in mind that we never spoiled you or made a big deal of your fame, precisely so that you wouldn't turn out to be a rotten, spoiled brat. Also, you are actually famous, whereas Lockhart, as a student, just wanted to be famous and so sought out attention by pulling stunts like that. My parents were acquainted with Lockhart's mother, and from what they said, she married a Muggle and he was the only one of her three children to be born with magic. I assume Mrs. Lockhart spoiled her son, as a result, and that's why he showed up at Hogwarts thinking that he was wonderful and everyone should be in awe of him."

"But if Lockhart wrote all these books, he must know about Defense," Justin said logically. "Even if he does have a large ego."

"I suppose," said Remus doubtfully. "I read a couple of his books, and some of stuff he wrote that he did seems a bit off to me. By the time Sirius and I had graduated, Lockhart was starting to take shortcuts and I overheard a couple of the teachers saying that he would only bother trying if he would turn out the best at it. So I find it hard to believe that he would put forth the effort to learn Defense so well that he would make a career of fighting yetis and trolls and so forth just so he could write books about his adventures. If he was that hard-working, he'd have been a Hufflepuff."

"Not necessarily," Sirius said. "Back in school, Lockhart wanted to be famous and was willing to do anything to achieve his ambition. So that's Slytherin material right there. And if I remember correctly, he wasn't a Hatstall like the traitor Wormtail was, but it did take longer than a minute or two to Sort him."

"The point is, Lockhart wanted to be famous, and now that he's gained it, I don't quite trust it," said Remus. "Though that's just based on what we knew of him in the three years our Hogwarts time overlapped, so for all I know, he could have changed. I mean, we did, after all."

"Yeah, but we went from kids wanting to just have fun to maturing into responsible adults fighting against Tom Riddle. That's not to say that we stopped having fun or anything, but we learned when it was okay to goof off and when it wasn't, and shaped up and became more responsible."

"Well, if Lockhart is our teacher, we'll see what kind of person he turned out to be," said Harry. "Aunt Molly is a fan of him, so he can't be too bad."

Ria snorted. "He's good-looking, if you're the kind that goes for wavy-blonde hair, blue eyes, and the picture-perfect smile, and has done, or says he's done, daring and thrilling deeds against Dark creatures and beings. That's what brings in the fans, most of whom are either school-age girls or middle-aged women like Molly. No offense to Molly, of course. Plenty of people, including me, have been fans of various celebrities. Anyway, I think buying his books is a waste of money, and it's a good thing that Sirius decided he didn't want to eat his own bad cooking and hired Molly to make lunch for him and Remus while I was at work, or the Weasleys might not be able to afford five sets of Lockhart books _and_ Ginny's school supplies this year."

"So when will we go get our Hogwarts supplies?" Harry asked, deciding to change the subject.

"I assume you're going to want to go with your friends," Ria stated. "Well, it'll probably be next Wednesday, since the Grangers don't have any dental appointments scheduled for that day, and I know the Weasleys and Longbottoms will be free or able to take the time off then. You can see if your other friends can go then. Justin, since that's the day your visit is over, you could go down to London with us and have your parents meet you there. They can take you home after you've bought your school supplies."

As it turned out, the Hogwarts Nine could all go to Diagon Alley on Wednesday, though Ernie's parents couldn't take the time off from work, but would be able to pick him up after the shopping trip was over. After breakfast, Sirius shrunk Justin's trunk so that it would be easier to carry during the trip through the Floo. Justin, meanwhile, was feeling just a little nervous, since his previous Floo travels (all to the Weasley home) had involved one of his friends going with him, but now he was trying out going by himself for the first time.

"Justin, are you sure you don't want one of us going with you?" Remus asked.

"I'm sure, Mr. Remus," replied Justin. "I need to do this on my own, and you've all explained what I have to do."

"All right then," said Remus. "You can go after Harry."

However, when Harry had arrived in Diagon Alley, Justin did not come out of the fireplace after him. Instead, a few minutes later, Sirius and Ria came out, looking a little worried. "Justin coughed just as he was saying 'Diagon Alley'," said Sirius. "Did he come out here at all?"

Harry shook his head, feeling alarmed. "He can't be lost in the Floo Network, can he?"

"It's possible, but it's more likely he ended up at the wrong grate," said Ria. "Oh dear, I hope he's only one grate over or something, and not somewhere like Knockturn Alley or a strange wizard's home. Come on, we'd better go look for him."

The Longbottoms and Susan, who had also arrived, joined in the search, and luckily, as they were at the other end of the alley, near Gringotts, Hagrid brought Justin over. "Thank goodness you're all right!" exclaimed Ria, pulling Justin into a hug. She then took out her wand and magically cleaned him of the remaining soot on him and asked, "So what exactly happened with your Floo mishap?"

"I found Justin in Knockturn Alley," Hagrid said gruffly. "Luck fer him, I 'ad to buy some Flesh-Eatin' Slug Repellent fer the school cabbages, or who knows what coulda happened ter him."

"Thank you so much for finding him, Hagrid," said Ria gratefully. "I shudder to think what could have happened to you, Justin. And think of how it would affect your parents! So where did you end up in Knockturn Alley."

"The shop was, I think the sign said 'Borgin and Burkes'?" Justin answered. "Nobody was around, but on my way to the door, I saw Draco Malfoy and his father approaching the store. I didn't want them to see me, since I had no idea what they might do, so I hid inside a cabinet, though I knew better than to shut the door all the way. Anyway, the Malfoys came in, and Mr. Borgin came out of the back room. Mr. Malfoy sold some stuff, saying he didn't want them found if the Ministry were to raid his home, and insulted Mr. Weasley in the process. Oh, and Draco complained about you being able to play for Hufflepuff, Harry, saying that it was all due to your fame, and when his dad said something about his poor grades, he said it wasn't his fault and that Hermione was the favorite of the teachers. Mr. Malfoy's response was that Draco should be ashamed that a 'girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam'."

"Hermione will be happy to hear that," said Harry. "And Mr. Malfoy won't be insulting Uncle Arthur for much longer, once Malfoy Manor gets raided. They'll find the hiding place in the drawing room and be able to properly investigate the Malfoys."

"Come on guys," said Remus. "The rest of the group should have arrived by now, so let's go meet them."

Mr. and Mrs. Finch-Fletchley turned out to have arrived at the Leaky Cauldron at the same time as the Grangers, and the two families were making their way towards the wizarding bank with the Moons and Abbotts, who had arrived a few minutes before them. The Weasleys and Ernie were already at the bank, and the wizarding families took the carts to their respective vaults, while Hermione and Justin went to the counter to exchange their pounds.

Once everyone had their money, Mr. Weasley insisted on taking Justin's parents to the Leaky Cauldron for a drink so he could find out more about the Muggle world, from the point of view of upper-class Muggles. Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Lovegood took Ginny and Luna off to get their robes, and Ria bought the Hufflepuff Nine ice-cream cones at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, while Justin told the rest of his friends about his Floo mishap.

"Something similar happened to me the first time I used the Floo by myself," said Hannah. "I was supposed to end up at my grandmum's home, but somehow I ended up at the Leaky Cauldron instead. Mr. Tom, the barman, helped me get to Grandmum."

The group then set off for Quality Quidditch Supplies, where they gazed at the new Nimbus Two Thousand One and Ron looked longingly at the set of Chudley Cannon robes. After that, Hermione and Lil dragged them next door so they could buy ink and parchment, and at Jambol and Gapes Wizarding Joke Shop, they met the Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan stocking up on Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start, No-Heat Fireworks, with the aid of Sirius, who was buying some prank items of his own. The group poked around the shop for a bit, and then went to the Apothecary to replenish their potion ingredients.

An hour later, the Hufflepuff Nine headed for Flourish and Blotts to get their book and reunite with their families. As they made their way to the bookstore, they saw, to their suprise, that a large crowd was jostling outside the doors, trying to get in. The reason for this became clear when they spotted a large banner stretched across the upper windows, proclaiming that Gilderoy Lockhart was signing copies of his autobiography that afternoon.

The four girls had initially been rather impressed by Lockhart, but after hearing from Harry and Justin about what Sirius and Remus had said of the guy during his time at Hogwarts, they were rather less enthused. Also, Lil had actually read her mother's copy of the autobiography, _Magical Me_ , and what was written in there about Lockhart's time at Hogwarts did not really mesh at all with what Sirius and Remus said. As a consequence, the Hufflepuff Nine's impression of Lockhart was that he was some sort of glory-hound who most likely exaggerated his exploits or even made them up.

Once inside the store, the nine grabbed copies of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2_ , and got in line with their parents/guardians so that they could collect their Lockhart books. Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Moon looked rather starstruck and kept patting their hair, which made Ron and Lil roll their eyes. They had tried to tell their mothers that Lockhart wasn't as perfect as he seemed, but neither one had listened, saying that Sirius and Remus must be mistaken or that he'd changed greatly after they had graduated. The only one who had listened was Lil's older sister, who was a Ravenclaw and therefore saw things logically.

Gilderoy Lockhart came slowly into view, seated at a table surrounded by large pictures of his own face, all winking and flashing dazzlingly white teeth at the crowd. The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that exactly matched his eyes; his pointed wizard's hat was set at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.

A short, irritable-looking man was dancing around taking photographs with a large black camera that emitted puffs of purple smoke with every blinding flash. "Out of the way, there," he snarled at Ron, moving back to get a better shot. "This is for the _Daily Prophet_ -"

"Big deal," said Ron, rubbing his foot where the photographer had stepped on it.

Gilderoy Lockhart heard him and looked up. He saw Ron, and then he saw Harry. He stared. Then he leapt to his feet and positively shouted, "It _can't_ be Harry Potter?"

The crowd parted, whispering excitedly; Lockhart dived forward, seized Harry's arm and pulled him to the front. The crowd burst into applause. Harry's face burned as Lockhart shook his hand for the photographer, who was clicking away madly, wafting thick smoke over Harry's friends.

"Nice big smile, Harry," said Lockhart, through his own gleaming teeth. "Together, you and I are worth the front page."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Sirius's voice boomed throughout the store. There was a pause as Sirius and Ria, looking furious, pushed their way to the front. "If you use any of the photos you've taken of Harry and Lockhart together, we're suing the _Daily Prophet_ ," Ria snapped.

The photographer paled a little and lowered his camera, while Lockhart said jovially, "Now, now, no harm was done. Who are you by the way?"

"We're Harry's godparents, and his guardians in the wizarding world," Sirius retorted. "Now, you may be interested in fame, Lockhart, and have pulled stunts like carving your name on the Quidditch pitch and sending yourself almost a thousand cards on Valentine's Day back in your Hogwarts years, but Harry isn't that kind of person. He has no interest in his fame, other than using it for good causes, which this bolstering of your fame most certainly isn't. Also, as a minor, he definitely cannot have any pictures or interviews with the press without the permission of his guardians _and_ an adult present."

"How do you know what I did at Hogwarts?" Lockhart asked, looking shocked.

"Because three of our years overlapped, you blithering idiot!" Sirius snapped. "Remember me, Sirius Black? You even asked me and James Potter if you could join the Marauders, which is what we called our group of friends, because we were so popular at Hogwarts."

Lockhart paled and started babbling apologies, which he followed up with handing Harry, Sirius, and Ria copies of all his books, free of charge.

"Hmph," said Ria, who didn't look appeased with this. "I heard that you're taking up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mr. Lockhart." When Lockhart confirmed this, she added, "So that means you're taking advantage of it to bolster sales of your books by putting them on the required booklist so that all Hogwarts students will be forced to buy them. That doesn't seem very fair."

Lockhart began stammering, but Sirius cut him off to ask, "So, how have things been going for you, Lockhart? I see you've made a name for yourself fighting monsters and such. I guess you changed your mind about your previous ambitions?"

"What are you talking about?" demanded Lockhart, recovering enough to try and talk back.

"I seem to remember, back at Hogwarts, you telling anyone who would listen that you would create a Philosopher's Stone before graduation, go on to captain the English team to World Cup glory, and then settle down to become the youngest Minister of Magic of Britain. I suppose since no professional Quidditch team recruited you, you decided to pursue a different career? At least you still can become the youngest Minister of Magic, since the youngest so far was thirty-two when he got elected, and you're, what, twenty-seven or twenty-eight?"

Lockhart looked around nervously, then finally said, "Yes, I changed my mind about my original plans after graduation. I felt my duty was towards fighting Dark creatures. I-it was l-lovely to see you again, Mr. Black. Erm, those are your friends with you, Harry?" Harry nodded, and Lockhart bustled over and had them presented with copies of his books as well, free of charge, and included Ginny and Luna in the group.

Ria and Sirius, looking annoyed but deciding not to pursue things further, walked over to Fred and George and handed them their copies of the Lockhart books. "Here," said Ria. "We have no need to the books, so you two might as well use these, since that ponce is forcing you to have them for his classes."

"One good thing came out of this," said Harry, trying to look on the bright side. "My friends don't have to spend money on his books now."

"True," said Sirius. "I wonder if Lockhart's hiding something, if he got so nervous when I brought up the stuff he did at Hog-"

"So Potter, taking advantage of your fame to get your pathetic friends free stuff?" interrupted the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy.

"Shove off, Malfoy," Harry snapped. "It's not like I asked Lockhart to give them copies of his books. Or are you jealous that you weren't included? Maybe if you were as nice and wonderful as my friends, instead of being a prejudiced, pureblood ponce, I would have befriended you."

Draco's cheeks turned slightly pink and he would have retorted, but at this juncture, Mr. Malfoy appeared behind his son. "Now, now, Mr. Potter, didn't you learn any manners? Or did your wizarding guardians not bother to teach you any?" He looked at Sirius and Ria and sneered. "Then again, considering that one comes from a family of Muggle-lovers and the other was disowned for being a disgrace to his family, I'm not surprised. No wonder you're a disgrace to the name of wizard like them, Mr. Potter."

"You're the one that's a disgrace, Malfoy," Sirius spat. "I heard that you were at Borgin and Burkes selling certain questionable items that you don't want found. The fact that you were there shows that you were up to no good. Oh, and keep in mind that after my parents died, I'm Head of the Black family. They may have disowned me, but Grandfather Arcturus made sure that I was still his heir and would take over after him. So, unless you want me to exercise my powers as Head of the family and dissolve your marriage with Cousin Narcissa, I suggest you stay away from me and my godson."

Mr. Malfoy's eyes narrowed. "Fine then, _Black_. If you want me to leave you and Potter alone, I will. But you'll regret this." As he turned to go, he stumbled. While trying to regain his balance, he tripped over his cane and fell into Harry, knocking him over. The pile of books in Harry's arms scattered across the floor, and in the process of getting to his feet, Mr. Malfoy shoved all the books in an untidy pile. "Sorry, Potter," he snarled, not sounding apologetic at all. "Come, Draco." He grabbed his son by his shoulder and steered him out of the bookshop.

Sirius helped Harry up, while Ria conjured up a couple of bags and piled the books into them. Meanwhile, the rest of the Hufflepuff Nine had managed to get away from Lockhart and the publicity of 'Harry Potter's friends being given free books', thanks to Susan's Aunt Amelia stepping in and exercising her power as Head of the DMLE, and join Harry.

"Lockhart must be hiding something, if he was acting so nervous around Uncle Sirius and Aunt Ria," said Hermione. "And then he tried to deflect that attention by using the fact that we were your friends to give us free copies of his books."

"At least something good came out of it," said Ernie. "We didn't have to waste money buying his books. Miss Ria, I think you were right about Lockhart taking advantage of his new job so that he could bolster his book sales."

"It did look a bit fishy," said Ria. "Well, let's go pay for the books you weren't given, and then we can leave. Justin, if you like, I can explain things to your parents so they aren't confused about what just happened."

"That would nice, Miss Ria," said Justin. "Thank you."

Shortly after, the families left for the Leaky Cauldron, so that they could Floo to their respective homes, or in the case of the Grangers and Finch-Fletcheys, go out to the Muggle part of London where they had parked their cars and drive home.


	19. Chapter 19

Two days later, at breakfast, Sirius let out a barking laugh when he started reading that day's copy of the _Daily Prophet_. The others looked at him.

"What's in the paper that's so funny, Uncle Sirius?" asked Harry.

After a second to compose himself somewhat, Sirius answered, "For once Rita Skeeter wrote an article on someone who deserved to be taken down a peg." He showed the rest the headline, which was " _Gilderoy Lockhart: More Beneath the Surface?"_

"Ah," said Remus. "This article should be very interesting then. How about I read it out loud?" Sirius handed over the newspaper and Remus began reading.

" _Gilderoy Lockhart, celebrated Dark creature fighter and author, was holding a book signing of his autobiography two days ago, at bookstore Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. His intention was also to announce to the public that he was taking on the post of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts the following school year. While he has done many brave and daring deeds and has published several popular books about his many adventures, it seems that there may be more to him that he tries to keep hidden, based on what happened during the book signing._

 _During his signing, Lockhart spotted Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and insisted on dragging the famous boy forward for several pictures, perhaps in an attempt to further boost his (Lockhart's) fame. That is certainly what Arianrhod Llewellyn (a Healer at St. Mungo's) and Sirius Black, Harry's godparents and wizarding guardians, seem to think, for they stepped forward and put a stop to things, even going so far as to threaten to sue the_ Daily Prophet _if the photos of Harry were printed. In fact, Mr. Black, whose final three years at Hogwarts overlapped with Lockhart's first three, brought up the fact that the author may 'have pulled stunts like carving your name on the Quidditch pitch and sending yourself almost a thousand cards on Valentine's Day back in your Hogwarts years,' and said that his godson is not that type of person. Certainly this seems true, for Mr. Potter so far hasn't actively sought out attention or done anything solely for the fame._

 _In any case, it does seem odd that Lockhart felt the need to attract attention to himself while he was at Hogwarts, especially as his biography,_ Magical Me _, makes no mention of 'carving his name on the Quidditch pitch' (for which the Hogwarts records state he received a week of detention) or any of his other stunts. In fact, an interview with two of Lockhart's dormmates from Hogwarts reveals that he also created a giant image of his face and shot it into the air, and lobbied Professor Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, to start a school newletter, simply so that he could see his name and picture in print. By the time he graduated, the teachers were quite relieved to have him gone from Hogwarts._

 _In any event, when Black brought up the stunts that Lockhart had done in school, the author turned quite pale and started babbling apologies for his behavior, following this up with giving Harry and his godparents free copies of all his books. Healer Llewellyn did not seem appeased with this at all, and pointed out how unfair it was that Lockhart was taking advantage of his new position to bolster his book sales by forcing Hogwarts students to buy copies of them via putting them on the required booklist. This does seems quite unfair, and also comes across as further self-promotion._

 _This accusation further rattled the author, and Mr. Black took the opportunity to suggest that he had changed his mind about his previous accusations. When Lockhart asked for clarification, those present discovered that back in Hogwarts, he also went around telling anyone who would listen that he would: 'create a Philosopher's Stone before graduation, captain the English team to World Cup glory, and then settle down to become the youngest Minister of Magic of Britain.' Obviously, Lockhart has not created a Philosopher's Stone, and no professional Quidditch team has signed him on (in fact, he never played on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team back in school, unlike what his biography states, and was said only to be a fairly competent flyer, not a brilliant one), so two of the three ambitions are unfilled, and it seems highly unlikely he will become Minister of Magic_.

 _The author appeared to become increasingly nervous as this, and after stammering that he had changed his mind and decided to devote his life towards fighting Dark creatures, tried to deflect this attention by asking Harry Potter if those were his friends with him (they were) and giving them free copies of his book at well. Mr. Potter's friends were apparently annoyed with this attention, rather than pleased, and required the aid of Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the aunt of one of Harry's friends, in order to put a stop to it. The fact that Lockhart became nervous and felt the need to deflect the attention on his school years is quite suspicious, and points to the fact that he may be hiding something. Certainly his desire for fame, to the point of bragging about the great things he planned to do and pulling stunts like sending hundreds of Valentine's cards to himself (which necessitated breakfast being canceled due to the mess that all those owls made) in order to attract attention, and not mentioning it in his autobiography, is odd. Could it be that this desire for fame is a sinister reason for his current celebrated status? We shall simply have to see how well he does as Hogwarts new Defense teacher, and perhaps discover the reasons for his behavior and if he is truly hiding something._ "

"Wow," said Harry. "Maybe this will get people to rethink their admiration of Lockhart. I wonder how he's going to react to this article."

"He'll probably try to do damage control," Ria said. "I just hope his multitude of fans aren't so enamored of him that they'll get angry at Sirius and me for all this and send us hate mail, or try to claim that we are unfit guardians for you."

"That's why we have a ward on the house diverting unwanted mail," Sirius pointed out.

"Yes, but that just means most of it will end up at St. Mungo's, since Rita Skeeter mentioned my job," Ria retorted. "That's not going to be fun."

"Which is why you just throw them out or burn them. Why should it matter if we get hate mail from strangers over this? Our friends know better than to doubt us, and while Molly and Mrs. Moon were a little annoyed with us at first, they admitted that his behavior was rather fishy."

"I just don't want unnecessary mail while I'm at work," said Ria with a sigh. "Well, it's too late now to prevent things from happening."

After breakfast, Harry went up to his room and took out his group notebook to see if his friends had seen the article on Lockhart (and tell Justin and Hermione about it, as they didn't have subscriptions to the _Daily Prophet_ ). Ron and Hannah hadn't, but after being updated, they agreed that the article was well-deserved and might serve to take Lockhart down a peg, if he couldn't figure out a way to do damage control.

When Harry was done writing, he decided that he might as well put his school books in his trunk, so there would be less to pack the day before he had to leave for Hogwarts. When it came to the Lockhart books, he just grabbed the two bags they were in (since he hadn't bothered to take them out, much less flip through them) and dumped them out into his trunk. A small, thin book with rather shabby black covers caught his eye and he pulled it out, wondering what it was doing among the Lockhart books. It appeared to be a notebook or diary, and a quick look through the pages showed that it was blank.

"Huh, did I pick up a journal without realizing it?" Harry wondered. "Or did Aunt Ria think I needed a new one and got me this?" He poked his head out into the hallway and called, "Aunt Ria, did you get me a notebook or journal when we went shopping for school supplies?"

Ria came up the stairs and said, "Yes, I did, Harry, and please don't go shouting about the house. Why, did you just now find it?"

"Yes, and sorry for yelling," apologized Harry. "Thanks." He went back to his trunk and put the journal in it again, deciding that he would write in it once he had filled the journal that Remus had given him last year, which still had a few pages left, since he only wrote in it about once a week.

After making sure all his school books were packed, he shut his trunk, and went downstairs to Floo over to the Weasleys, since he had promised to help Ron with telling Ginny and Luna more about Hogwarts, and perhaps persuade them to getting into Hufflepuff over Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

Author's Note: As you can see, Harry now has Tom Riddle's diary, though he has no idea at the moment and will only find out when he actually looks in the front cover or starts to write in it. Originally Lucius Malfoy did plan to slip it in among Ginny's books, like he did in the book, but the encounter with Sirius and Harry angered him and he decided that it would be even better if the Boy-Who-Lived got the diary, not knowing that Harry actually knows who T. M. Riddle really is. I thought Lockhart deserved to be taken down a peg, which is why there's Rita Skeeter's article on him, with more to follow later.


	20. Chapter 20

September the first came and it was time to leave for Hogwarts. The Hufflepuff Nine settled into a compartment at the end of the train. Ginny and Luna took the one next to them, sharing with two other first years, an excited Muggleborn boy who was clutching a camera and quite eager to learn everything he could about the wizarding world, and a rather quieter bespectacled boy who had his nose in a book, but was willing to put it aside to talk to the others.

After the witch with the food trolley had come and went, Justin asked, "So have any of you found out anything else about whatever plot the Malfoys set up?"

The others shook their head, and Harry said, "Right now, Sirius is more focused on coming up with some way to rescue Dobby. He's thinking of setting up a situation where Mr. Malfoy does something to tick him off, and he uses his power as Head of the Black family to threaten to dissolve the Malfoys' marriage, but settle for being given the house-elf instead. That's just a little hard to do at the moment, since Sirius has to figure out the setup."

"I'm sure Mr. Sirius will think of something," Lil said. "It's awful how Dobby is so horribly treated. Just because he's not human doesn't mean he can be treated lower than dirt or be forced to hurt himself as punishment."

"I've thought of something," Harry said. "Now that I'm at school and fully part of the wizarding world, Tom Riddle, and/or his followers, seem to be headed towards returning to power and going after me, just because he thinks I'm fated to defeat him once and for all and I did technically defeat him when I was a baby. You guys have insisted on helping me with this, so we should probably start keeping a record of what we've gone through against him and take notes of anything we find out about him or can be used against him."

"That's a great idea," said Hannah. "Do any of you have a blank notebook we can use for this?"

"Aunt Ria bought me a new journal, since my old one was almost full," Harry said. "We can use that, since I'm not that much of a journal writer anyway, and only wrote in my old one once a week." He got up and started looking through his trunk for it, so they could write down the encounter with Riddle/Quirrell for the Philosopher's Stone and what little they had gotten from Dobby about the Malfoy's plot. A minute later, he paused when he came across a yellow and black striped book. It wasn't his old journal, since the covers of this one were still pristine, and a quick flip through it showed that the pages were blank.

"That's odd," he said, putting the new journal to one side and digging under his Lockhart books to find the diary with black covers.

"What's odd, Harry?" asked Ernie.

"This," replied Harry, finding the diary and holding it up. "I found this among my Lockhart books, and since Aunt Ria said she bought me a new journal, I assumed that this was it. But that journal I put to one side, which is identical to my old one, seems to be the one she got me."

"That is odd," said Susan. "Can I see the black one? Thanks. Look, these's something faded that's stamped on the front cover. I think it says '1942' or '1943'. So this diary is really old, about fifty years. Did you look through this at all, Harry?"

"I just did a quick flip of the pages to make sure it was blank. I didn't look closely at it, since I assumed it was the journal Aunt Ria got me."

"Well, if you had, you would have noticed the year stamped on the cover, and then questioned why you had someone's old diary that they'd never written in. Let me see if there's anything in the covers." Susan opened it to the back cover and saw the printed name of a variety store on Vauxhall Road, London. "See this, guys?" she said, showing it to the others. "This originally came from a Muggle shop." She then flipped to the front page and dropped the book with a gasp. "Harry, do you have any idea how you might have gotten this diary? Because the name written is 'T. M. Riddle'."

Harry started to shake his head, but then remembered the events at Flourish and Blotts. "That day at Flourish and Blott, while Lockhart was giving you guys free copies of his books to distract from what Uncle Sirius was saying. Draco came by to make some crack about my using my fame to get you guys free stuff, and when I snapped back at him, his father appeared to comment on my manners and insulted Aunt Ria and Uncle Sirius in the process. Uncle Sirius confronted him, and when Mr. Malfoy turned to leave, he tripped and fell into me, knocking me over. The Lockhart books I was holding scattered on the floor, and Mr. Malfoy could have easily slipped the diary among them, especially as he pushed my books to one side as he was getting up."

"I think we've found out what plot Mr. Malfoy had planned," said Hermione. "Or at least, the vehicle for said plot. But what nefarious thing could Tom Riddle's diary be the vehicle for?" Seeing confused looks from those of her friends that didn't have an extensive vocabulary, she added, "Nefarious means 'wicked'."

"Maybe this diary has hidden instructions written in it," Neville suggested. "Like in invisible ink or something."

However, when Hermione both did the spell to make invisible ink appear and rubbed the first couple of pages with the Revealer she had bought in Diagon Alley, nothing appeared in the diary. "Well, there has to be something sinister about the diary," Ron said with a frown. "Maybe try writing in it?"

"That could work," said Ernie, getting up and taking a quill pen and a jar of ink from his trunk. "I'll pretend that I'm Draco Malfoy and just happened to find this diary." He opened the diary to the first blank page and wrote, " _1 Sept, 1992_ _, Dear Diary, my name is Draco Malfoy. I -_ " Before he could finish, the writing disappeared. The nine gasped in surprise, and several seconds later, new writing appeared on the page.

" _Hello, Draco Malfoy. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary_?"

Ernie wrote back, " _I found it lying around the house. It was blank, so I decided to write in it. I didn't know that it would write back._ "

Riddle's reply was, " _I enchanted this diary to hold a copy of my memories so that I could communicate with anyone writing in it. So, I gather from the date you wrote that it's about fifty years in the future._ "

" _Based on the year stamped on the cover, I would assume so, Tom. It's interesting to write to you._ "

" _I feel the same about you_ ," Riddle wrote back. _"You said your last name was Malfoy. I have a housemate named Abraxas Malfoy. I assume you're related to him, Draco?"_

" _He was my grandfather_ ," Ernie wrote. " _Why was your diary in my house? Did you give it to my grandfather or father for safekeeping or something, because Father told me that you eventually became the Dark Lord and he was one of your followers?"_

" _I don't know what happened in the future, of course, but based on what you've written, I imagine I did give this diary to your family for safekeeping. Could you tell me some more of what happens in the future?_ "

Ernie looked up at his friends. "What should I write in response?"

"Hmm, why don't you tell Riddle that you'll write to him later, since the Hogwarts Express is about to arrive at Hogwarts," Hannah suggested. "That will hold him off for a bit, and after the welcoming feast tonight, we can turn the diary in to Professor Dumbledore and have him deal with it."

Ernie did exactly that, and the reply from Riddle was that he understood. Harry took the diary and put it in his pocket for the time being, then took out his two-way mirror so he could notify Sirius about it.

His godfather swore when he heard about the diary, and called Ria and Remus over so that Harry could tell them.

"Don't write anything more in it," Ria ordered. "We've have been doing some research in the Black family library, and we think we've discovered the method Riddle used that prevented from dying when you defeated him as a baby, Harry."

Remus looked grim. "There's this Dark ritual, part of which requires killing someone, that allows a person to split their soul and place it inside an object. We think, and Dumbledore agrees with us, that Riddle must done this, and quite possibly created more than the one or two that Dark wizards normally make. This diary is probably one, though I doubt Lucius Malfoy actually knows what it is, or he wouldn't have slipped it among your books, Harry."

"So make sure you hand the diary to Dumbledore after the feast," Sirius said. "He'll examine it to see if it is one of those horrid things, and see about destroying it. And make sure that nobody outside your group of friends knows about it, all right? We'll speak with Amelia and Arthur about this and see if they can't raid Malfoy Manor tomorrow."

"I'll do that, Uncle Sirius," said Harry, and he ended the connection.

After that, Susan, who had the neatest handwriting out of them, wrote down everything they had found out, plus Harry's confrontation with Riddle/Quirrell in the Harry's new journal. When she finished, she handed it to Hermione, who did a spell on the lock so that it could only be opened by one of them so that if someone (like Zacharias Smith, who had been caught trying to snoop in Harry's old journal once) got their hands on it, they wouldn't be able to read it. It was decided that Hermione should keep the journal for the time being, so she put it in her trunk.

The rest of the train ride was rather quiet, since after the revelation that Riddle had probably done at least one Dark ritual to encase a piece of his soul in an object, none of the Hufflepuff Nine was feeling at all cheerful. After a few minutes of awkwardness, they all ended up reading, even Ron, who normally didn't read unless the book interested him (such as Quidditch books or certain Muggle fiction) or it was required for school.

When the Hogwarts Express arrived at the station, Luna, Ginny, and the two boys they had been sitting with headed over to Hagrid, who was calling the first-over to him. The Hufflepuff Nine waved to the gamekeeper and then followed the other students to the carriages. Neville, who had been present when his grandfather had died almost two years ago, blinked upon seeing the thestrals pulling the carriages, but none of his friends could see the winged horses.

When they arrived at the castle, they headed to the Great Hall and found seats at the Hufflepuff table. Several of their housemates greeted them cheerfully and asked how their summers had been. After ten minutes, the noise died down as Professor McGonagall brought the new first-years in and placed the Sorting Hat on top of a stool. After it had sung a new song about the four Founders and their houses, the Sorting began.

The excited boy with the camera turned out to be named Colin Creevy, and he sat on the stool for less than a minute before he was declared a Gryffindor. When it was Luna's turn, it took two minutes for her to be declared a Ravenclaw. The bespectacled boy, who was named Matthew Roper, was also Sorted into Ravenclaw, though in his case it only took a few seconds. Ginny was the last person to be called up, and she appeared to be silently arguing with the Hat for almost four minutes before it finally called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" She looked rather disappointed with that and shot Luna and Matthew apologetic looks as she made her way to the Gryffindor table and took a seat next to Colin. Clearly she had been hoping to break the family tradition like Ron did and be Sorted in the same house as her best friend.

After Professor McGonagall had taken out the Sorting Hat and stool, Professor Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts, everyone! I suspect that you are all hungry, so all I have to say to you is: _Bon Appetit_!"

A variety of food appeared on the dishes in front of them, and everyone began filling their plates with food. After a few minutes, the Hufflepuff prefects introduced themselves to their new housemates, and so did the Hufflepuff Nine and several others. All the first-years were in awe that Harry Potter was actually in their house, and looked extremely happy when he said to them, "Pay no attention to anybody that makes fun of you for being in Hufflepuff. You're in the best house, in my opinion, because we're dedicated, loyal, and fair. We stick up for each other, and remember, the badger is really fierce when provoked, so we're not weaklings, and definitely not the 'leftover house', no matter what some people might say about us."

After dessert, Professor Dumbledore stood up again and made the usual announcements, this time with no mention of anything being out-of-bounds other than the Forbidden Forest. When he finished, they all sang the school song, with Fred and George once again singing along to a very slow tune.

During the confusion of the Great Hall evacuating, Harry went up to the staff table, where he asked to speak with Professor Dumbledore privately. The headmaster granted the request and once in his office, Harry turned over Riddle's diary and explained how he had gotten it.

"Uncle Remus said that it could possibly be housing a piece of Riddle's soul, and Uncle Sirius said that you would check to see if it was and destroy it."

"I will do that," said Dumbledore seriously, examining the diary. "You said that Mr. Macmillian wrote in it for a bit, pretending to be Mr. Draco Malfoy? Then I shall continue the pretense and see if I can't get any further information before I figure out a way to destroy it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mr. Potter, and I shall keep your guardians updated on things. Have a good night."

"Good-night, Professor Dumbledore," Harry responded, and he left for the Hufflepuff common room. His friends were waiting for him, and after he quietly told them what the headmaster had said, they all headed for bed.


	21. Chapter 21

Author's Note: Congrats to James Sirius Potter for starting Hogwarts and getting Sorted into Gryffindor! I always thought he was two years older than his brother Albus Severus, so I was excited to have confirmation of that and his Hogwarts house. And since this fic is about Harry being in Hufflepuff, I am also extremely excited and happy to hear that Teddy Lupin was Sorted into Hufflepuff like his mother, and is Head Boy this year.

The next morning, at breakfast, schedules were handed out and the Hufflepuff Nine saw that their first class of the day was Herbology, with the Gryffindors. When they arrived for the lesson, Professor Sprout informed the class that they would be working in Greenhouse Three today. This caught their interest, since they had never been in Greenhouse Three, which held the more dangerous plants.

The lesson was on mandrakes, and Neville and Hermione won Hufflepuff twenty points for answering Professor Sprout's questions on them correctly. After that, the class was told to split up into groups of no more than four and re-pot the baby mandrakes. While Professor Sprout had made it look it easy, it was much harder for the students, and only Neville didn't have much trouble. In fact, after ten minute of trying to squash a particularly fat one into a pot, Harry confessed defeat and had to mime for help to Neville (since they were all wearing earmuffs to avoid being knocked out by the mandrake's cry).

After Herbology and a quick wash, the Hufflepuffs headed for Defense Against the Dark Arts, while the Gryffindors had Transfiguration. Professor Lockhart started off the class by having the students do a 'little quiz' to see how well they had read his books, consisting of three sides of paper of fifty-four questions. They had half an hour to do it, and when Harry looked down at his paper at the start of the quiz, he stared at it in disbelief. None of the questions really had anything to do with Defense, instead being composed of questions like 'What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?' and 'What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest achievement to date?"

Once he got over his surprise, Harry decided to have a bit of fun. For the favorite color, he wrote down 'The color of Lockhart's eyes', for the secret ambition he wrote down the stuff Lockhart had said he would one day back when he was at school, the greatest achievement was all the stunts he had done to garner attention at Hogwarts, and similar responses for the other questions. For the final question, Harry left the part about Lockhart's birthday blank, since he had no idea when it was or how to make it funny, but did write down that Lockhart's ideal gift was 'a chocolate cake filled with Love Potion from a fan'. Not that Harry actually thought that Love Potions were funny or harmless, but it would be amusing to see Lockhart go gaga over one of his fans for a bit.

Half an hour later, Lockhart collected the papers and rifled through them in front of the class. It appeared that Harry wasn't the only one who had deliberately messed around with the answers, for most of his friends had put down the same responses he did to the questions of Lockhart's secret ambition and greatest achievement. Meanwhile, Hermione was the only one that had answered all the questions correctly, for despite her dislike of Lockhart, it didn't stop her from reading all his assigned books and retaining the information. She was awarded ten points for Hufflepuff, but didn't look happy to be singled out for it.

Lockhart then bent down behind his desk and lifted a large, covered cage onto it. "Now - be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

The Hufflepuff Nine exchanged looks, while Zacharias Smith leaned forward to get a better look at the cage.

"I must ask you not to scream," said Lockhart in a low voice. "It might provoke them." As the whole class held its breath, he whipped off the cover. "Yes," he said dramatically. " _Freshly caught Cornish Pixies_."

Harry and Susan exchanged bewildered looks, since pixies weren't exactly dangerous, just nuisances, while Zacharias let out a snort of laughter that even Lockhart couldn't mistake for a scream of terror. "Yes?" he smiled at Zacharias.

"Well, pixies aren't very _dangerous_ , are they, Professor?" Zacharias said, stifling another snort.

"Don't be so sure!" said Lockhart, waggling a finger annoyingly as him. "Devilish tricky little blighters they can be!"

The pixies were electric blue and about eight inches high, with pointed faces and voices so shrill it was like listening to a lot of budgies arguing. The moment the cover had been removed, they had started jabbering and rocketing around, rattling the bars and making bizarre faces at the people nearest them.

"Right, then," Lockhart said loudly. "Let's see what you make of them!" And he opened the cage.

It was pandemonium. The pixies shot in ever direction like rockets. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him into the air. Several shot straight through the window, showering the back row with broken glass. The rest proceeded to wreck the classroom more effectively than a rampaging rhino. They grabbed ink bottles and sprayed the class with them, shredded books and papers, tore pictures form the walls, upended the wastebasket, grabbed bags and books and threw them out of the smashed window; within minutes, half the class was sheltering under desks and Neville was swinging from the iron chandelier in the ceiling, though he managed to have the presence of mind to pull out his wand and levitate himself to the floor seconds later.

"Come on now - round them up, round them up, they're only pixies," Lockhart shouted. He rolled up his sleeves, brandished his wand, and bellowed, " _Peskipiksi Pesternomi_!"

It had absolutely no effect, especially as it sounded like 'Pesky Pixie Pester No Me', and not a proper spell, to Harry's ears. One of the pixies seized Lockhart's wand and threw it out of the window, too. He gulped and dived under his own desk, as Hermione, Harry, Susan, and Ernie managed to get some order by hitting a number of the pixies with Freezing Charms. The rest of the group joined them seconds later, and when the bell rang, Zacharias grabbed his bag and ran out the door, while his housemates finished immobilizing the rest of the pixies and stuffing them back into the cage.

Lockhart got to his feet and started to thank them for their help, but Lil said curtly, "Don't bother. If you're pathetic enough to not be able to handle a bunch of pixies, to the point of making up nonsense spells in a failed attempt to stop them, then I seriously question how you did all the stuff in your books."

"Yeah, it looks odd when you, who's supposed to be a competent wizard, can't handle something as simple as pixies and need a bunch of second-years to get you out the mess, Professor," added Justin. With that, the Hufflepuff Nine stuffed the last few frozen pixies into the cage, grabbed their school bags, and strode out of the room before Lockhart could formulate a response.

At lunch, they made sure to tell their housemates exactly what had occurred during Defense class. The other Hufflepuffs frowned over Lockhart's behavior, and considering the questions that had already been raised after Rita Skeeter's article, they found this as further proof that perhaps he wasn't as great as he seemed. Those that had friends or relatives in other houses got up to spread the word, and it wasn't long before the whole school knew about the disastrous Defense lesson.

Meanwhile, Ron took out his copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. He flipped to the section on pixies, who were classified with XXX, which meant competent wizards should cope. With a grin on his face, he added 'but xxxxxxx if you're Lockart' next to the M.O.M. classification. His friends chuckled at that.

When the Hufflepuff Nine finished lunch, they went outside into the overcast courtyard. They were discussing what they might be doing in Transfiguration, which was their next class, when Ginny came over, with Colin Creevy, who was clutching his camera, right behind her.

"Sorry to bother you, Harry, but Colin wanted to meet you," Ginny said. "He heard all about you from his dormmates, as well as reading about you in a book he got for background info on the wizarding world. When he heard that I was casual friends with you, he asked if I could introduce you to him."

"Hello, Colin," said Harry, deciding to be friendly for the time being. No doubt the younger boy hadn't gotten over his excitement of being in the wizarding world yet, and it wouldn't hurt to be nice to him. "Have you met my friends?" Harry introduced the rest of the nine.

Colin looked thrilled to meet Harry Potter and his friends. "It's _amazing_ here, isn't it? I never knew all the odd stuff I could do was magic till I got the letter from Hogwarts. My dad's a milkman, he couldn't believe it either."

Justin chuckled. "I felt the same way as you last year, Colin. I was a bit amazed at first to have Harry be in the same house as me, and never thought he'd become my friend, but after the first few days, I got to know the real him, not the famous image that books and newspaper articles built him up to be. He's just a regular student like us, good at some things, okay at others, and complete rubbish at the rest."

"Yeah," said Harry. "I know I'm famous and all for defeating the Dark Lord as a baby, but I had help with that. My parents died that night, and their sacrifice was what enabled me to win." Technically, it was just his mother's sacrifice that allowed him to win, but Colin didn't need to know that.

"Oh, so your parent's deaths created some sort of magical protection?" Colin asked.

"Something like that," answered Harry. "That's what Professor Dumbledore and my godparents think, anyway."

"Er, would you mind if I took your picture, Harry?" Colin asked hesitantly. "Ginny said you don't really like that kind of stuff, but I promised Dad I'd take loads of pictures to send to him, and it'd be really good if I had one of you."

"As long as my friends are in the picture too, I don't mind," said Harry.

"That'd be awesome!" Colin exclaimed. "Ginny and Luna told me yesterday about your group trying to stop the Dark Lord from getting the Phil-Philosopher's Stone last year. It was really brave."

The Hufflepuff Nine exchanged amused looks, but obligingly posed in front of the stone steps so Colin could snap a picture of them. When he was done, he thanked them, and promised to give them copies of the picture once he'd developed the film. (Ginny had told him that they had photo albums that they were filling up with pictures of their school years, since that was what Harry had given his friends as an end-of-year gift the previous school year.)

Shortly after that, they all left for class. In Transfiguration, they were to turn beetles into buttons. Harry didn't have much luck in the beginning, since everything he had learned last year seemed to have leaked out of his head during the summer. All he managed to do was give his beetle a lot of exercise as it scuttled over the desktop avoiding his wand, before he finally made some change to the beetle. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything that Professor McGonagall would praise him for, as the only change was that the beetle was now plastic, meaning he had produced (at best) a beetle-shaped button.

Hermione, on the other hand, produced a handful of perfect coat buttons, and was awarded ten points to Hufflepuff. Harry very sternly squashed any feeling of envy he felt about this, and instead, after class, asked her if she would give him some Transfiguration tutoring so that he could succeed next time. She agreed, and the Hufflepuff Nine left the classroom.


	22. Chapter 22

September passed without much incident, other than Draco Malfoy being made Seeker of the Slytherin Quidditch team, and subsequent trying to lord it over Harry, especially as his father had given the entire team brand new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. That didn't last long, for once Sirius got wind of this, he showed up at Hogwarts and donated new brooms to the other three House teams.

"I didn't think it fair that Slytherin be the only to have such excellent brooms," he said as he handed out Nimbus Two Thousand Ones. "Since I was once in Gryffindor and my godson is in Hufflepuff, I'd obviously get brooms for those teams, and included Ravenclaw so they wouldn't be left out."

This made Harry quite popular with the rest of the school (other than most of the Slytherins), since it was his godfather that thought of the gift. That wasn't the only donation Sirius made, for he and Ria also bought a number of Cleansweep Ones and Twos and Comet One Fifties to replace the school brooms, which were mostly old Shooting Stars and therefore of horrible quality, but still be slow enough for beginner flyers to learn on.

It also turned out that Luna wasn't settling very well in Ravenclaw, but that was through no fault of her own. Her rather unique outlook in life and the fact that she believed pretty much everything her father published in _The Quibbler_ did not endear herself to many of her housemates. Even though Ravenclaws were supposed to value people that were different, or at least accept them, not everyone followed that. Outside of Matt Roper, she didn't seem to have any friends in Ravenclaw, and her only other close friends were Ginny and Colin, who being in Gryffindor, couldn't be with her all the time.

"If only Luna could be re-Sorted into Hufflepuff," Harry muttered at lunch one day, after having come across Matt taking his nose out of a book long enough to tell off Luna's dormmates for teasing her.

"I agree," said Susan. "In Hufflepuff she'd be accepted and we'd all stick up for her, no matter how, um, unique she is. Well, Smith probably wouldn't, but he's an example of a not-nice Hufflepuff, so he doesn't really count."

The boys in the Hufflepuff Nine sighed, for Zacharias Smith was just as insufferable as he was last year. Though they had tried to be friendly towards him, he wasn't the same to them, and especially resented Harry, feeling that the 'Boy-Who-Lived' upstaged 'descendant of Helga Hufflepuff'. The events of the Philosopher's Stone and facing Riddle on the back of Quirrell's head made things worse, even if it did allow Hufflepuff to win the House Cup in over fifty years. Zacharias just saw it as another way for Harry and his friends to upstage him, and even confronted them before term ended, shouting that they should have been Sorted into Gryffindor if they were going to engage in stupid heroics without thinking first. Even Gabriel pointing out that if the nine had been Sorted in Gryffindor, then Gryffindor would have won the House Cup, not Hufflepuff, hadn't calmed Zacharias down any.

One day in early October, Harry was summoned to Professor Dumbledore's office. His guardians and Madam Bones were present in the office as well.

"Tomorrow we're going to be conducting a raid on Malfoy Manor, Harry," Madam Bones told him once the initial greetings were over. "And Sirius is going to arrange for Dobby to be freed from the Malfoys and come work for him. But that's not the main reason you're here."

"I've figured out the diary," said Professor Dumbledore. "I wrote in it a few times, and the last time, I felt something odd. I suspect it was trying to possess me, and if I were actually the student I was pretending to me, I probably would have been possessed. In any case, I stopped writing in it. I did work out that it was an object that Tom Riddle used to house a piece of his soul, like your guardians suspected. Oh, and further examination of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem, that you and your friends discovered last year, proved that Riddle had found it and used it for the same purpose."

Harry looked shocked. "Riddle actually used a Founder's object for such a Dark purpose?" As the Hufflepuff Nine hadn't been able to come across any books on soul objects in the library, they could only conclude that it was very Dark magic, and any books on the subject would have to be in the Restricted Section, assuming that the Hogwarts library even carried such books. Ron had suggested seeing if the Room of Requirement would provide them any books on it, but he hadn't been enthusiastic about it, and the others had decided to wait to do so.

"It looks like he did," said Professor Dumbledore, looking somber. "And I have reason to believe that he might have done the same with the other Founders' objects he was able to get his hands on. Godric Gryffindor's heirlooms escaped, since the Sorting Hat is safe in my office, and his sword can only be obtained by pulling it out of the Hat when showing great bravery."

Harry was a bit confused by that, but put it aside to ponder later. Instead, he asked, "What about Helga Hufflepuff's Cup? Zacharias Smith said it went missing when his great-great-aunt died."

"It seems that Riddle stole it at that time," replied Dumbledore. "He was a young man working for Borgin and Burkes at the time, and visited Hepzibah Smith on their behalf in order to try and buy valuable items from her, so he could have been shown the Cup."

"Oh," said Harry. He thought for a minute, then continued, "Since I suppose Riddle would probably be descended from Salazar Slytherin, he probably wouldn't have difficulty getting his hands on, I think it was a locket?"

"From what I've been able to find out, Slytherin's locket was sold to Borgin and Burkes by Riddle's mother, when she needed money. Hepzibah Smith later bought it, and I presume Riddle stole it at the same time he stole Hufflepuff's Cup."

"Then that means we would have to find the cup and locket in order to destroy them, Professor."

"I plan on doing some searching, Harry, with the aid of Sirius and Remus," Dumbledore said. "Besides keeping you up to date, per your guardians' wish, I also wanted to let you know that I believe the diary is also a means to open the Chamber of Secrets, probably by being possessed by Riddle's spirit."

"You mean the legend of a secret chamber that Salazar Slytherin built is actually true?" Harry asked incredulously.

"My parents were at school when it was opened around fifty years ago," said Ria. "They told me about it. A girl was killed, and the culprit was found to be Hagrid, which was why he was expelled, and the matter was hushed up. Considering that Tom Riddle was the one to find the 'culprit', it's obvious that he was the one to really open the Chamber, and framed Hagrid for it."

This made Harry hate Riddle even more. "So what does this have to do with me?"

"Well, the girl who died became a ghost, and currently resides at Hogwarts," said Dumbledore. "Your female friends may know of Moaning Myrtle, since she haunts the bathroom she died in. After discovering that the diary may be a means of opening the Chamber, I spoke with Myrtle about her death, and I have reason to believe that the entrance to the Chamber is located in the bathroom. Unfortunately, it can only be opened by Parseltongue, and while I do have some understanding of the language, I have never learned to speak it."

"I suppose you want me to open the Chamber for you then, so you can investigate," said Harry, comprehension dawning. After all, he had discovered a couple of years ago, when he came across a harmless garden snake in the back yard, that he could speak to snakes. Since the Potter family didn't have a history of Parselmouths in the family, and the Evans family were Muggles (at least until you went far back enough to find a Squib ancestor), Ria theorized that Riddle might have passed on some of his abilities when he tried to kill Harry.

"That would be appreciated," said Dumbledore. "I'm not going to order you to do it, however. It is completely up to you, and I intend to have your guardians and Madam Bones present when you do. We don't want any harm coming to you."

Harry thought it over. "I would be happy to help, Professor Dumbledore. Don't you think whatever monster is in the chamber ought to have died by now?"

"I doubt it," said Remus. "Remember, the monster was still alive to kill a student when Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago, and that was about a thousand years after Hogwarts was founded. We've done some research, and came to the conclusion that the monster is probably a basilisk, which have been known to live for an extremely long time."

Harry knew vaguely that a basilisk was a giant snake that could kill people its gaze, and apparently was born from a chicken egg hatched from a toad. He made a note to do more research on the creature. "Harry," said Sirius, interrupting his thoughts, "we'll be the ones to deal with the basilisk, if that's what's in the Chamber and is still alive. All you have to do is open the Chamber for us. Once it's dead, we can dispose of the remains. The venom will be useful in destroying the 'soul objects' that Riddle made, and the rest of it will be handy for potion ingredients and the like."

Harry nodded and Ria finished, "That's all we needed to tell you, Harry. You may notify your friends if you like, but please make sure that nobody else finds out. Next week we'll likely see about opening the Chamber and dealing with the basilisk."

"All right, Aunt Ria," said Harry, and after Remus made the suggestion that he was to meditate and clear his mind every evening, he was dismissed.

The Hufflepuff Nine gathered in the Room of Requirement, where Harry told his friends what the adults had found out and Susan wrote down what he said in their notebook. "Maybe now would be the best time to do some research on soul objects," Justin tentatively suggested.

"Yes, but I think there's an actual name for it," said Harry. "Not just 'soul objects'. Unless we actually know the name, the Room isn't going to be able to provide us with much info, if any, on the subject. I don't know why Dumbledore and my guardians didn't just use the actual name."

"Well, it's very Dark magic, isn't it?" Hannah pointed out. "Sure, we have no intention of ever doing anything like that, but that doesn't mean we couldn't ever be tempted. Besides, we're only second years, and it would be odd for us to do research on something so Dark."

"At least my guardians aren't using the excuse of my being only twelve to not keep me updated on things, at least where Riddle is concerned," Harry said. "If I have to face Riddle someday, at least I'll be knowledgeable and well-prepared when it happens. Anyway, Remus suggested that I take the time to meditate and clear my mind every night, if possible. Do any of you guys want to join me?"

"I think that's a sensible idea," said Hermione eagerly. "From what I've read about meditation, it will help you both physically and mentally. It'll increase your energy levels, lower tension or pain in your body, sharpens your mind, decrease anxiety-"

"All right, Hermione, we get the idea," Ron interrupted. "You don't need to go on and on about the benefits. Anyway, if meditation is so useful, we might as well do it with you, Harry."

The Hufflepuff Nine spent the next fifteen minutes silently meditating and clearing their minds of thought. When they were done, the girls said that they felt much better, and Harry said he didn't feel as stressed as he thought he would be after the update regarding Riddle's diary and his 'soul objects'. They decided they would all take fifteen minutes to meditate and clear their minds before going to bed each night, and then the group returned to the Hufflepuff common room.


	23. Chapter 23

As promised, Ria, Sirius, and Remus returned to Hogwarts the following weekend, and with them was Madam Bones. The four of them and Professor Dumbledore took Harry to the bathroom that Moaning Myrtle haunted. Sirius was holding one of the school roosters in a cage, which had a black cloth over it. The plan was to remove the cloth and magically create a bright burst of light at the right time in order to trick the rooster into crowing. If that failed to work, then Madam Bones had given the party special dispensation to use the Imperius Curse to force the rooster into crowing. Since the use was more so prohibited on humans, not common animals, such a dispensation wouldn't cause raised eyebrows.

A talk with Moaning Myrtle led them to the exact sink that hid the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, which had a snake etched on one of the copper taps. Harry concentrated, pretending that the etched snake was real, and said in Parseltongue, " _Open up_." A second later, the sink began to move; in fact, it sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

Harry couldn't help gasping, and so did Ria and Sirius. The other three bent forward to examine the pipe, and Professor Dumbledore muttered thoughtfully, "How very interesting." He straightened and continued in a louder tone, "Of course, this wouldn't be the original way to enter the Chamber. I would imagine that it was originally accessed by a hidden trapdoor or something of the like. When Hogwarts had plumbing installed in the early nineteenth century, I suppose whomever was the descendent of Salazar Slytherin that was at the school at the time took steps to make sure that it was still hidden."

"I agree, Professor," said Remus. "So, shall we go down to deal with the basilisk?"

The others nodded and Ria handed Harry a bandana and mirror. "Tie that around your face, but don't pull it over your eyes until we're actually in the chamber, Harry. If something happens that startles you into opening your eyes, the bandana will protect you. Use the mirror in case you do need to see. Then if you do run into the basilisk's gaze, you'll be Petrified rather than killed."

"Oh, and stay behind us," Sirius added. "Your job is to just speak Parseltongue and get the basilisk to appear so that we can kill it with the rooster, not to indulge in needless heroics."

One by one, with Professor Dumbledore in the lead, they slid down the pipe. It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. Harry, who went last, could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as theirs, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.

And then, just as he had begun to worry about what would happen when he hit the ground, the pipe leveled out, and he shot out of the end with a wet thud, landing on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in. Professor Dumbledore and Madam Bones were already standing, while the other three were in the process of getting to their feet. All of them were covered in slime.

"Wow, we must be miles under the school," said Harry, his voice echoing in the black tunnel.

"I suspect that we're under the lake," said Professor Dumbledore, raising his wand. " _Lumos_!"

Madam Bones and Remus lit their wands as well and the group set off down the tunnel. It was so dark that even with the light, they could only see a little distance ahead. Their shadows on the wet walls looked monstrous in the wandlight. "If there's any sign of movement," said Madam Bones, "close your eyes right away and pull down your bandanas.

But the tunnel was quiet as the grace, and the first unexpected sound they heard was a loud _crunch_ as Sirius stepped on what turned out to be a rat's skull. Remus lowered his wand so they could look at the floor and they saw that it was littered with small animal bones. Harry and Ria shuddered.

Just around a dark bend in the tunnel, Professor Dumbledore ordered them to halt, saying that he'd seen something. Harry caught a glimpse of an outline of something huge and curved, lying unmoving right across the tunnel, before he shut his eyes and pulled down his bandana over his eyes.

Professor Dumbledore cautiously stepped forward to examine it and a few seconds later, said, "It's all right, you can open your eyes now. It's just the shed basilisk skin."

Harry pushed up his bandana and opened his eyes just as Professor Dumbledore lowered the mirror in his hand. His wand hand was still raised, and the light from the wand slid over a gigantic snake skin, or a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

Harry blinked in shock, while Ria bent over to examine the skin. "It's not fresh, but it doesn't look that old either, or it would be decomposing by now. I think the skin is still viable for use, either in potions or as some kind of armor or clothing, the way we use dragon hide."

Sirius gave something of a nervous chuckle. "Only you would still be able to think of the usefulness of a shed basilisk skin at a time like this, Ria."

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat. "This is all quite interesting, but shall we continue now?"

The group continued down the tunnel, which turned and turned again. At long last, as they crept around yet another bend, they saw a solid wall ahead on which two entwined serpents were carved, their eyes set with great, glinting emeralds. The others parted to let Harry step forward, who cleared his throat and said, in a low, faint hiss, " _Open_."

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, the halves slid smoothly out of sight, and the group, shutting their eyes, walked inside. A few seconds later, Professor Dumbledore said that it seemed safe to open their eyes. Harry opened his and saw that they were standing at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. Remus stepped forward this time with his mirror so that he could examine the chamber more closely.

"There's no basilisk here," Remus called back a couple of minutes later. "However, there is a very tall and large statue of what I assume is Salazar Slytherin at the end here. It might conceal an entrance or tunnel to wherever the basilisk is hiding out. Harry, if you would come here and open it please?"

Harry ran over to Remus, the others behind him. Once Harry reached the statue, he opened his mouth, but then shut it as he suddenly got the feeling that just saying 'Open' wouldn't open. "What do I say?"

"How about respectfully asking the statue to speak to us?" Professor Dumbledore suggested. "And perhaps you could add some sort of compliment, like how Slytherin was the greatest of the Founders."

Harry nodded, and imagining that there was a snake in front of him, said in Parseltongue, " _Oh, most honorable Salazar Slytherin, the greatest of the four Founders, please speak and open to us._ "

Slytherin's gigantic stone face started moving, his mouth opening, wider and wider, to make a huge black hole. Something began stirring inside the statue's mouth, slithering up from its depths. Harry backed away, shutting his eyes and pulling down the bandana. Next to him, he heard something that sounded like Sirius whisking the cloth off the cage, followed by Professor Dumbledore and Madam Bones shouting, " _Lumos Maxima_!" Despite his shut eyes and the bandana, Harry still vaguely saw a bit of a faint light, and a second later, the rooster began crowing. This was followed by the loud thud of something large and heavy falling to the ground and then Madam Bones declaring that it was safe.

Harry opened his eyes and removed the bandana to see the corpse of an enormous serpent, bright, poisonous green, and as thick as an oak trunk, lying in untidy coils at the base of the statue. It was obvious that as soon as the rooster's crow had killed it, it must have slid out onto the floor.

"Good, it's dead," said Harry shakily, since a part of him had been worried that the plan wouldn't work or that someone would end up killed or Petrified.

Sirius conjured a spear and used it to pierce the eyes of the dead basilisk, just in case the gaze could still do some harm. "There, all taken care of. So what now?"

Remembering what Ria had said earlier, Harry asked, "Couldn't the body be of some use? If the shed skin could be useful, like Aunt Ria said, then imagine what the body is worth."

"Harry has a point," Remus said thoughtfully. "And according to our research, there is one use that we know of. The venom will be quite handy in destroying the Hor–I mean soul objects, that Riddle made."

"Excellent," said Sirius cheerfully. He began conjuring up some bottles, and Madam Bones and Ria did the same. With the aid of a few spells, Professor Dumbledore severed the fangs, and Ria and Remus collected the venom in the bottles. Once all the venom was collected, the bottles were put in two bags that Sirius had conjured, while Professor Dumbledore wrapped up the fangs and put them in a third bag. Plans were made for Professor Snape and a couple of other potion experts to come down later and deal with the corpse and shed skin. Each would get a fair share of the useable parts as payment, and the rest could be sold for quite a bit of money, as basilisk parts were worth a great deal.

Professor Dumbledore offered Harry a share of the money for his help, but he turned it down. "Thanks, Professor, but I don't want or need the money. Since the basilisk is technically school property, just put the money towards the student fund or helping with improving a school club or something like that. But you can give me a couple of basilisk scales as a souvenir for this, though."

"All right then," said Professor Dumbledore with a smile. He conjured a knife and carefully cut off a small patch of skin, handing the resulting three scales to Harry.

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," said Harry, wrapping the scales in the bandana and sticking it in his pocket. The six of them then made their way out of the chamber and up the tunnel, where the headmaster summoned his phoenix, Fawkes, and asked him to transport them out.

Once out in the bathroom, Moaning Myrtle blinked at them. Professor Dumbledore explained to her that they had taken care of the monster that had caused her death and she returned to the cubicle she haunted to think things over. Madam Bones and Remus did Cleaning Charms on all of them, and then Harry was sent off to shower and inform his friends of the events.

The rest of the Hufflepuff Nine were very interested to hear Harry's retelling of events after he'd finished showering, and he passed around the basilisk scales for them to examine. "It's a good thing that everything went as planned," Hermione remarked.

"And now Hogwarts doesn't have to worry about the basilisk somehow being set loose and going around Petrifying or killing people," Justin added.

"Oh, and I found out two things about the soul objects," Harry said. "Basilisk venom can destroy them, and the actual term starts with 'Hor'. Remus almost let it slip when he mentioned the use."

Susan grabbed the commonplace book and wrote down the two facts, and then the Hufflepuff Nine split up to meditate and relax for a bit.

The school term progressed with very little of note happening after that. Halloween came and went, with the Hufflepuffs taking a few minutes of silence in the afternoon to honor the memory of Lily and James Potter. The feast passed without incident (no professors appeared in the middle to announce a troll in the castle or anything else like last year) and everyone went to bed content. The only thing of interest that happened in the outside world was detailed in an article, written by Rita Skeeter, about items of a questionable nature being discovered in a hidden room in Malfoy Manor and Lucius Malfoy being brought in for questioning as a result. As part of it, Sirius result in charges brought against him, Mr. Malfoy signed over ownership of Dobby to Sirius and Ria.

With November came the start of the Quidditch season. The Gryffindor-Slytherin match was first, and despite a few attempts at cheating on the Slytherin's part, Gryffindor ended up winning the match, two hundred and ten points to eighty. The next match after that was the Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff one. The Ravenclaws played their new Seeker, a rather pretty third-year named Cho Chang. She was a good flyer, but towards the end of the match, ended up being taken out by a Bludger. This left Harry free to catch the Snitch without any competition, and Hufflepuff won two hundred points to seventy.


	24. Chapter 24

Author's Note: Sorry that it has been some time since I updated this. I was busy with other things in my life. In other news, _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ is a great movie and worthy addition to the Harry Potter universe. I loved the interaction between the characters and everything else in the film. If you have not seen it, I strongly encourage you to do so.

With December came the Christmas holidays and the Hufflepuff Nine prepared to return to their respective homes for it. Sirius decided to throw a New Year's Eve party during that time and made sure that the entire group, plus their families, were invited to it. The only other guests invited were Luna and her father and the only relatives that Sirius was on speaking terms with, Andromeda and Ted Tonks and their daughter Nymphadora, who was in training to be an Auror. The latter made it clear that she preferred to go by her surname, though she was okay with her father and Sirius calling her 'Dora'. When Ernie asked why Tonks didn't go by her middle name, she made a face and said flatly, "Because it's just as bad as Nymphadora."

Sirius looked over at his cousin. "What were you thinking when you gave Dora the middle name of 'Vulpecula' anyway, Andromeda? You broke away from the family by marrying Ted, so there was no need for you to carry on the family tradition of naming after stars. I'm certainly never doing that, if I ever have a kid."

"Actually, it was Ted who suggested that we follow the tradition," Andromeda answered.

"But I wasn't expecting you to pick a star like 'Vulpecula'!" Ted protested. "I thought you would pick something like Arista or Carina."

"See, Mum, why couldn't you have picked those stars?" Tonks demanded. "Arista and Carina aren't bad-sounding names, and I wouldn't have minded going by them. But no, you had to saddle me with horrible first _and_ middle names."

"At least your name isn't as hard to pronounce the way Welsh names tend to be, at least among non-Welsh speaking people," Ria pointed out. "And my parents, instead of using the slightly more modern and prettier-sounding 'Rhiannon', chose to give me the old Celtic form of it, 'Rigantona', as my middle name. Even when they told me that the name meant 'great queen', I was still unhappy with it."

"I think the wizarding world has a habit of using names that aren't that great, or at least would be considered weird or old-fashioned in the Muggle world," Remus said thoughtfully. "Anyway, Tonks, at least your first name can be shortened into 'Dora'. James's dad had the first name of Fleamont, after his paternal grandmother's maiden name, since she didn't want the name to die out. He used to tell us Marauders that his name was the reason why he was so good at duelling, since he got into a lot of fights at Hogwarts over teasing of his name."

That led to several of the other adults telling stories of themselves or family members with first or middle names that could be considered embarrassing. Even Justin's father contributed a story about how his family had traditionally named one son per generation Shirley. Originally it had been a male name, but slowly over time it became gender neutral until the point that it was more commonly a female name. Luckily for Mr. Finch-Fletchley, he had been given Shirley as a middle name, so he'd avoided teasing of it back during his school days, and he had put an end to the tradition when Justin was born, not using it for either first or middle name.

The school term resumed after the holidays. Professor Lockhart's class was still as pointless as ever and the Hufflepuff Nine wondered if his end-of-year exam would end up being just as stupid as his 'little quiz' from the first day of term. The rest of the classes were fine, except for History of Magic, where Professor Binns continued to be boring.

Quidditch practice started up again and Harry was busy with that in addition to his schoolwork. Hufflepuff won their matches against Gryffindor and Slytherin, mostly thanks to Harry catching the Snitch, at least for the one against Gryffindor, since the Lions been ahead by fifty points by the time of the Snitch capture. Once again, Hermione and Ernie became extremely worried over the end-of-year exams after the final Quidditch match and dragged the rest of the Hufflepuff Nine into studying for them. Even when Lillian pointed out (again) that Hermione didn't need to worry since she was so advanced and the best student overall in their year and that Ernie wasn't that far behind, the two dismissed that and insisted that they still needed to study.

"There's nothing you can say or do that'll stop them, Lil," Ron sighed. "But if they're like this now, imagine how they'll be when we're in fifth year and it's the lead-up to the OWLs." The other shuddered or made faces, other than Hannah, who began looking alarmed.

"Calm down, Hannah," said Neville. "It's still three years away, and I'm sure we'll do fine on our OWLs. We've never failed a test before, unless you want to count Lockhart's so-called test at the beginning of the school year, and all of us are at least decent students."

When exam time came, the Defense exam ended up being administered by Professor Dumbledore, who just had them list all the defensive spells they knew of and to explain what each spell did. When Susan asked Professor Sprout about this, the Hufflepuff Head explained, "The other Heads and I asked Professor Lockhart to submit copies of his exams for approval. They were horrid, focusing primarily about himself, with a few bits of things from his books. We scrapped those and with Professor Dumbledore, came up with the one that was used, other than the OWL and NEWT students, since theirs are administered by the Ministry."

When Susan mentioned this to her aunt, this led to an investigation into Lockhart. By the time term ended, it was revealed that he was fraud, having tracked down the witches and wizards that actually did the deeds in his books, questioning them, and then Obliviating them immediately after. Rita Skeeter took great delight in writing articles that tore Lockhart's reputation into shreds for the _Daily Prophet_ and _Witch Weekly_. Meanwhile, this resulted in him being sacked as the Defense teacher and brought to the Ministry for further questioning and most likely some kind of punishment for Obliviating magical people and committing fraud.

Sirius's response to all this was, "I knew it! He couldn't live up to the grand claims he made back when he was attending Hogwarts, so he decided to take the credit of the great deeds that other people did and became famous that way."

Mrs. Weasley was a little bit upset to discover that Lockhart was a fraud, but not as upset as she could have been, since all the things Sirius and Remus had told her about their overlapping years at Hogwarts with Lockhart earlier in the year had given her second thoughts. She got over it quickly, however.

Meanwhile, the Hufflepuff Nine settled down to enjoy their summer holidays. While they still had to do their summer homework, it only took them the first two weeks to finish the work (in Hermione's case, she was done within a week), with time in-between to relax and hang out. In the second week of July, Mr. Weasley ended up winning the _Daily Prophet_ Grand Prize Galleon Draw, consisting of seven hundred Galleons. He decided to spend the money on the whole family visiting Bill in Egypt.

Both Sirius, Amelia Bones, and the Longbottoms thought it would be a great idea for Harry, Susan, and Neville to experience Egypt as well, so they paid the money for the three to join the Weasleys on the trip, with Sirius and Alice Longbottom coming along. Hermione would have joined them, except her parents had already made plans for the family to visit France. Justin's family was doing the same, and Hermione and Justin planned to seek out and learn more about the French wizarding world while they were there.

The next couple days were a flurry of packing for the Egypt trip on the part of the Weasleys, Harry, Susan, and Neville, and on Monday morning in the third week of July, everyone going to Egypt showed up at the Ministry with their luggage to take the international Portket to Egypt.


End file.
